_The Herbaceous part of the Thorn Apple._
QUALITIES. _Odour_, fœtid and narcotic, occasioning head-ache and
stupor; _Taste_, bitter and somewhat nauseous. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION.
Gum, resin, and carbonate of ammonia; the recent experiments of M.
Brandes have also developed an alkaline element of activity, to which
the name of _Daturia_ has been assigned; it appears to exist in native
combination with malic acid; when in an uncombined state it is nearly
insoluble in water, and in cold alcohol, but boiling alcohol dissolves
it. It has been obtained with difficulty in the form of quadrangular
prisms. SOLUBILITY. The medicinal powers of the herb are alike extracted
by aqueous and spirituous menstrua. INCOMPATIBLE SUBSTANCES. The
infusion is precipitated by the salts of lead, silver, mercury, and
iron; the mineral acids would also appear to produce some essential
changes which may diminish its efficacy. Acetic acid increases its
powers, although it relieves the effects of an overdose, if administered
after the stomach has been emptied. This apparent anomaly is easily
explained when we consider, that in the first case its operation is
purely _chemical_, increasing the solubility of the active principle of
the plant, while in the latter case it operates as a _vital_ agent,
restoring to the nervous system that energy which has been suspended by
the narcotic influence of the vegetable. MEDICINAL USES. It is narcotic,
and has been regarded by many authors as eminently antispasmodic; Dr.
Barton, an American physician, made very extensive trials of its
efficacy in Mania, the result of which is highly favourable to its use.
Dr. Marcet first noticed its salutary effects in chronic diseases
attended with violent pain; he found it to lessen powerfully, and
quickly, sensibility and pain, and to produce a sort of nervous shock,
attended with a momentary affection of the head and eyes, with a degree
of nausea, and with phenomena resembling those which are produced by
intoxication. It seems to be more particularly beneficial in chronic
rheumatism, sciatica, &c. Its root, smoked in the manner of tobacco, has
been much extolled as a remedy in the paroxysms of spasmodic asthma;
this practice however, is not unattended with danger;[488] the same
transient feelings of relief may be procured by smoking a mixture of
opium and any aromatic herb. FORMS OF EXHIBITION. Some discrepancy of
opinion has existed upon this point; the native practitioners in the
Carnatic gave the powdered root; Hufeland recommends a tincture of the
whole plant; in this country an extract of the leaves, or, more lately,
of the seeds, has been preferred, and I have been recently informed by
Sir Henry Halford, that he has found a tincture made with the
seeds,[489] a very efficient and unobjectionable preparation. Dr. Davy,
at my request, has made a series of experiments upon the extracts
prepared by Mr. Barry _in vacuo_, and his report upon the effects of
that of Stramonium, will be found under the article _Extract.
Stramonii_, which see. DOSE. In the commencement, of the leaves powdered
gr. i. of the seeds gr. ss. It is said that the Turks sometimes use the
Stramonium instead of Opium, and the Chinese infuse the seeds in beer.
Cataplasms of the fresh bruised leaves have been very successfully used
in sores of a highly irritable and painful nature. OFFICINAL
PREPARATION. _Extract. Stramonii._