BOTANY AS APPLIED TO VETERINARY SCIENCE. 533 
and cattle of from 5j to 5iij. When given internally it acts 
as a narcotic, anodyne and antispasmodic, being available 
in all those cases in which we wish to relieve pain, allay irri¬ 
tability, and procure sleep, having, moreover, the advantage 
of not constipating the bowels like opium.^’ 
This medicinal agent is not so generally employed by us 
as its value deserves. Combined with other agents, it will 
be found serviceable in cases of chronic cough, and espe¬ 
cially in cases where the irritation is confined to the larynx; 
a small quantity, of the extract being placed and allowed to 
dissolve upon the tongue two or three times a day, will be 
found to allay the violence and frequency of the cough. By 
some an ethereal tincture {vide ^ Morton’s Pharmacy ’) is re¬ 
commended as an antispasmodic. 
It is also employed externally to allay the pain of punc¬ 
tured and other wounds, and also to dilate the pupil of 
the eye. As a poison, its effscts are much more powerful 
on man than animals. It is a narcotic poison, acting 
upon the spinal marrow as well as upon the brain, and 
according to Dr. Taylor, the special effect of this poi¬ 
sonous plant is manifested in its tendency to produce a 
general paralysis of the nervous system.’^ Several cases are 
recorded in which death has been produced both by the 
seeds and roots, the latter having been mistaken for the wild 
parsnip, which it somewhat resembles in appearance. In Dr. 
Taylor's work on poisons will be found the following curious 
illustration of its effects, in some cases which came under 
the care of Dr. Houlton : ^Mn a monastery, where the roots 
had been eaten for supper by mistake, the monks who par¬ 
took of them were seized in the night with the most extra¬ 
ordinary hallucinations, so that the place became like a 
lunatic asvlum. One monk ranof the bell for matins at 12 
c 
o’clock at nio-ht. Of those of the fraternitv who attended 
to the summons, some could not read, some read what was 
not in the book, and some saw letters running about the page 
like so many ants.” Its effect upon animals varies, and, 
like most other vegetable poisons, it is said to act more 
powerfully upon the dog and horse than upon ruminants. 
Swine are reported to have fed upon the leaves and stems 
with perfect impunity. An interesting account of the poi¬ 
sonous influence of the llyoscyamus niger on a cow, by M. 
Creuzel, will be found in The Veterinarian for 1840. In the 
spring of the year the animal had eaten some of the Ilyos- 
cyamus niger, growing in a yard, and in two hours after she 
exhibited the following symptoms : She was seen suddenly 
to fall down and abandon herself to very strange and violent 
