316 PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Hyoscyamus, 
HYOSCY'AMUS.^ Bloss. funnel-shaped; the lobes obtuse, 
irregular: Siam, declining: Caps. covered with a lid, 
two-celled : Seeds many, kidney-shaped. 
H. ni'ger. Leaves embracing the stem, sinuated: flowers sessile. 
(E. Bot. 591. E.)— Kniph. 1— {FI. Dan. 1452. E.)— Imdw. 85— Clus. ii. 
83 —Dod. 450.1— Lob. Ohs. 139. 1— Ger. 283.1— Ger.Em. 353.1— Woodv. 
52— Park. 362. 1— Blackw. 550— Riv. Mon. 102— Stoerck — H. Ox. v. 11. 
■row 2. 1—Matth. 1064 —Fuchs. 833— J. B. iii. 627. 1—Trag. 133. 
{Root fusiform. Stem bushy, twelve to eighteen inches high, very leafy. 
Leaves sub-ovate, large, alternate. Spike leafy, terminal, recurved, 
obtuse. E.) Whole plant with a strong and peculiar odour; hairy and 
viscid. Calyx woolly at the base, a little distended on the under side, 
(persistent. E.) Blossom tube white, with the middle deep purple; 
border pale yellowish brown, beautifully veined with purple. Anthers 
and style of a fine deep purple. (The roots exhale a powerful narcotic 
scent. E.) 
(A veinless variety has been observed at Fincham, Norfolk, by the Rev. R. 
Forby. Sm. E.) 
Common Henbane. (Irish: Gafain. Welsh: Parfyg ; Ffaen y moch ; 
Crys y brenin. E.) Villages, road sides, and amongst rubbish, not 
uncommon, (particularly in the midland and southern counties. Mr. 
Winch observes, it is common about all the villages of Northumberland, 
Cumberland, and Durham, especially near the sea-coast. The habit of 
this plant being in general solitary, it would be well for medical pur¬ 
poses to record such spots as produce it more abundantly; a remark¬ 
able instance of profusion is exhibited around the ruined fishermen's huts 
on the steep Holmes Island in the Severn, as observed by the Editor, 
June 23, 1826. E.) A. June.t 
virtue; these should be cut into small pieces, and put into a common tobacco pipe, and 
the smoke must be swallowed together with the saliva produced by the smoke ; after which 
the sufferer will, in a few minutes, be relieved from all the convulsive heaving, and probably 
drop into a comfortable sleep, from which he will awake refreshed ; and in general perfectly 
recovered. He must avoid drinking with the pipe, but will find a dish of coffee afterwards 
highly refreshing.” Cases and more copious details have also been collected and 
published in a separate volume by Phillips. Thus far we believe to be truth, but every 
popular remedy must be a panacea ; and we are sorry to learn that under the vain idea of 
curing Consumption of the lungs, Stramonium has been incautiously used as tea by ignorant 
persons, and in some instances has proved speedily fatal. In China the use of it in 
fermented liquors, (to produce intoxication), is forbidden by law. E.) 
* (From vg t swine ; xua/rof, a bean : but why thus denominated is not apparent. E.) 
+ The seeds, the leaves, and the roots, takeu internally, are reputed poisonous ; and 
well authenticated instances of their fatal effects are recorded. Madness, convulsions, and 
death, are the general consequences. (Threlkeld details a conclusive case, in which Mr. 
Burdett, Dean of Clonfert, and four other persons, were poisoned, with the horrible 
symptoms here described. Nor were such effects unknown to the ancients. Vid. Dioscorid. 
iv. 69 . E.) But Sir J. E. Smith states that he has often eaten the seeds with impunity. 
(They are generally supposed to prove destructive to poultry, whence the vernacular de¬ 
signation. E.) It is said that the leaves scattered about a house w ill drive away mice. 
(“ The root perforated, and strung like beads, is used for a Torquis to children in cutting 
their teeth, together with the roots of Peony.” Threlkeld Stirp. Hibern. E.) The 
Edinburgh College order the expressed juice of the plant to be evaporated to an extract; 
and in this state it may be advantageously joined with opium, where the effects of that 
medicine are desirable, and costiveness is to be avoided. There is no doubt of its being an 
useful medicine under proper management. The dose is from half a scruple to half a dram. 
