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THE PRINCIPLES OF BOTANY. 
of which the common stinging nettle TJrtica dioica may 
suffice for illustration. Speaking of the property from which 
it gets its significant name, Dr. Pereira says:— 
“ The most remarkable property of the order is the acridity 
(sometimes very extreme) of the liquid contained in the 
epidermoid gland at the base of the stinging hair. Endlicher 
says that it is bicarbonate of ammonia; but this is an obvious 
error, as ammonia in any known form is incompetent to 
produce the violent effect ascribed to some of the East Indian 
Urticaria .”— tf Materia Medica/ vol. ii, p. 365. 
We copy the following description of the effects of the 
Indian Nettles by Leschenault de la Tour, while gathering 
Urtica crenulata , in the Calcutta Botanical Garden. He says : 
“ One of the leaves slightly touched the first three fingers 
of my left hand; at the time I only perceived a slight 
pricking, to which I paid no attention. This was at seven 
in the morning. The pain continued to increase; in an 
hour it had become intolerable ; it seemed as if some one 
was rubbing my fingers with a hot iron. Nevertheless, 
there was no remarkable appearance; neither swelling nor 
pustule, nor inflammation. The pain rapidly spread along 
the arm, as far as the armpit. I was then seized with fre¬ 
quent sneezing, and with a copious running at the nose, as 
if I had caught a violent cold in the head. About noon I 
experienced a painful contraction of the back of the jaws, 
which made me fear an attack of tetanus. I then went to 
bed, hoping that repose would alleviate my suffering; but it 
did not abate; on the contrary, it continued nearly the 
whole of the following night, but I lost the contraction of 
the jaws about seven in the evening. The next morning the 
pain began to leave me, and I fell asleep. I continued to 
suffer for two days, and the pain returned with full force 
when I put my hand into water. I did not finally lose it 
for nine days. A similar circumstance occurred, with precisely 
the same symptoms, to a workman in the Calcutta gardens. 
This man described the sensation, when water was applied to 
the stung part, to be ■as if boiling oil was poured over him.” 
Of course, with such properties as these, Nettles in all 
time have been held in high repute for medicinal virtues. 
“The nettle brose” of the Scotch is, like most green vegetable 
concoctions, antiscorbutic, and on the doctrine of Signatures 
“ nettle tea ” commended itself for nettle-rash. The young 
tops of the common nettle boiled down form no bad vege¬ 
table, bnt the time has gone for any value to be attached to 
its medicinal value, although we have recently known the 
fresh plant used as an excitant in paralytic attacks. 
