MISCELLANY. 
267 
recommended it to Mr. Toulmin, of Hackney, who had for several years 
suffered frequent paroxysms of asthma; he was much benefitted by it, and 
having exhausted all the stock given him by Dr. Sims, he determined on 
the suggestion of the Doctor, to supply its place with the datura stramo- 
nium, which he found equally serviceable. * * * * Dr. Bree, in a letter 
published in 1811, states that from the beginning of the year to the month 
of April, he had seen eighty-two patients who had smoked stramonium; 
those who had derived no permanent good effect were fifty-eight out of 
that number, the remaining twenty-four had been all of thernmore or less 
injured, and some of them destroyed, by the practice. Of the fifty-eight, 
eleven certainly were not in a state to try the remedy, and whether the 
others derived even temporary relief we are not told. He gives in the list 
of twenty-four, seven patients with phthisis, who evidently ascribe the 
natural course of the disease to the bad effects of the herb. He states an 
instance in which epilepsy occurred to a lady advanced in life, who had 
never before had any attack of the kind ; he likewise adduces instances 
where the worst symptoms had rapidly supervened, but they were in con- 
stitutions highly debilitated, and in cases where the difficulty of breathing 
was the result of organic changes of the most important viscera, and where 
disease would, under any circumstances, have rapidly developed itself. 
But an event occurred which naturally excited amongst the afflicted 
with this disease a very strong sensation, and overwhelmed with dismay 
the advocates of smoking stramonium. In the periodicals of the day will 
be found the remarkable history of the fate of a gentleman, deservedly es- 
teemed and regarded, who, with a zeal highly praiseworthy, had materi- 
ally assisted in the introduction of this, which he believed to be so valu- 
able a remedy for an afflicting disorder. At that time, delicacy to the 
parties prevented the name of the individual, whose loss was so much 
deplored, from appearing; but, as time has worn away the necessity for 
such a feeling, and as the case has become one almost of medical history, 
I may state to you, that the gentleman whose name I have mentioned to 
you as the person who had brought with him the datura from Madras, and 
had given it to Dr. Sims, is the unfortunate subject of my present nar- 
ration. 
Sir George Gibbs, a physician of high character and talent, was sud- 
denly called on to attend this gentleman at Bath. He found him in a 
comatose state ; he appeared stunned, and his resolution was impaired ; 
his head was reclining on a sofa ; the pulse was scarcely perceptible, and 
the carotid arteries had little or no pulsation. It appeared, on inquiry, 
that the gentleman had smoked stramonium on the previous evening, in 
consequence of his having been much affected with shortness of breath ; 
he had then exhibited symptoms of stupor. He arose the next morning, 
in a heavy, comatose state ; a large blister was applied to the back, pur- 
gatives were administered, and a draught of camphor and senilis. On 
