256 
DAPHNE TRIBE OF PLANTS. 
the acrid resinous matter, are to be found described in other 
works. 
According to Dr. A. T. Thomson, these plants are violently- 
emetic and purgative, useful in chronic rheumatism, scrofu- 
lous swellings, lepra, and other cutaneous diseases. Dr. A. 
Russell recommended Mezereon for venereal nodes. Dr. 
Home found it a very powerful deobstruent in all venereal 
tumours of a scirrhous kind, when mercury had failed. Mr. 
Pearson denies its efficacy in curing venereal disease in any 
stage. Dr. Cullen employed it in cutaneous diseases. It has 
been used with success in paralysis of the throat. In France 
it is used to produce vesication, the bark being macerated in 
hot vinegar, and applied with a compress and bandage. Lin- 
naeus states, that six berries of the Daphne Mezereum will 
kill a wolf ; and he saw a child, who had taken twelve of 
them for an ague, die by excessive vomiting and haemoptysis. 
Lewis, in his Pharmacopoeia, states, that the leaves, taken in 
small doses, produce vomiting and purging, and cannot be 
ventured upon with safety, unless their virulence be pre- 
viously abated by long boiling, and even then they are pre- 
carious remedies. He asserts, that the flowers and the pulp 
of the seeds are harmless, but that the seeds themselves are 
as acrid and virulently purgative as the leaves. 
The Daphne Mezereum seldom rises higher than four feet; 
it is chiefly cultivated in our gardens, but is said to grow 
wild in the central counties. The Daphne Laureola is gene- 
rally from two to three feet high, and grows wild in the 
woods over the whole of Europe as far south as Sicily. 
The inner bark of the Daphne Mezereum is highly acrid, 
creating in the mouth and fauces a burning sensation, and, if 
swallowed, it affects the whole lining of the oesophagus and 
stomach in the same manner. With some individuals this 
sensation continues only a few hours, while others feel it as 
long as two days. In the case of Daphne Laureola, I re- 
marked that this effect is followed by a profuse perspiration 
of the face, head, and neck, and that as soon as this was fairly 
