158 
®toru~gti>jLe. 
Thorn-Apple .. ..Deceitful Charms. 
The flowers of the Thorn-Apple droop while the sun 
shines beneath their dull-looking foliage, but on the 
approach of night, they revive, display their charms, 
and unfold their prodigious bells, which nature has 
coloured with purple, lined with ivory; and to which 
she has given an odour that attracts and intoxicates, 
but is so dangerous as to stupify those who inhale it 
even in the open air. It is a dangerous plant to be 
allowed to grow where children go, as the beauty of its 
flowers and fruit is liable to tempt them to their de¬ 
struction ; since it possesses so poisonous a quality as 
to produce paralysis, and even madness, in those who 
have eaten it. Its leaves have been recommended for 
coughs and asthma. The charms of the Thorn-Apple 
flower are beautiful, but 4eadly; like those of the cor¬ 
rupt and treacherous, to be found in every society. 
But pleasures are like poppies spread, 
You seize the flower, its bloom is shed; 
Or like the snow-falls in the river, 
A moment white—then melts for ever; 
Or like the borealis race, 
That flit ere you can point their place; 
Or like the rainbow’s lovely form 
Envanishing amid the storm. 
Burns. 
