304: 
OBSERVATIONS  ON  ANAGALLIS  ARVENSIS. 
but  less  in  ether ;  it  is  inflammable,  burning  with  a  bright  flame, 
diffusing  its  strong  peculiar  odor. 
It  is  very  poisonous,  four  drops  having  caused  intense  head- 
ache and  nausea,  which  lasted  twenty-four  hours,  accompanied, 
during  the  whole  time,  by  pains  throughout  the  nervous  sys- 
tem. 
Physiological  and  Therapeutical  Properties. 
That  Chickweed  really  possesses  effectual  properties,  the  in- 
formation of  Orfila  gives  us  sufficient  proof ;  that  having  admin- 
istered three  drachms  of  the  extract  to  a  big  and  strong  dog,  it 
died  from  the  poisonous  effects  in  the  course  of  twenty-four 
hours.  Another  account  from  Qrognier,  (Compt.  Rendus  des 
Traveaux  de  la  Societe  de  Medicine  de  Lyon,  annee  1810), which 
states,  that  a  strong  infusion  of  Chickweed  given  to  stout  horses 
always  produced  a  trembling  of  the  muscles  of  the  back  and 
throat,  and  that  he  observed  a  copious  discharge  of  urine,  and 
that  he  found,  after  the  death  of  those  horses,  the  mucous  mem- 
brane of  the  stomach  inflamed.  I  had  but  one  occasion  to  ob- 
serve the  peculiar  effect  of  the  plant,  and,  indeed,  on  myself.  I 
have  repeatedly  sought  for  an  active  crystallizable  principle^  but 
in  vain,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  the  active  properties  of  Chick- 
weed  depends  on  its  volatile  oil.  Of  this  I  took  freely  four  drops, 
which,  after  the  expiration  of  a  few  hours,  produced  a  severe 
headache  ;  at  the  same  time  I  experienced  its  poisonous  effects 
throughout  my  whole  body,  and  was  sick  from  this  cause  a  whole 
day  and  night. 
In  former  times  Chickweed  was  known  and  used  as  a  panacea, 
and  so  much  so  as  to  attribute  miraculous  power  against  hydropho- 
bia. Again  we  learn  from  accounts  given  by  Bischoff  and  Ma- 
gellan, that  Chickweed  had  for  a  long  time  a  famous  reputation 
as  an  excellent  remedy  for  jaundice,  amenorrhoea,  gout,  palsy, 
and  epilepsia,  and  has  been  employed  and  administered  both 
internally  and  externally  for  the  cure  of  cancerous  and  malig- 
nant ulcers. 
Whether  it  deserves  such  a  reputation,  or  whether  these  are 
fictions  and  hyperphysical  pretensions  which  contributed  to  its 
expulsion  from  the  list  of  the  Materia  Medica,  and  caused  it  to 
