_Datura Stramonium_ (Pentandria Monogynia. _Nat. Ord._ Solanaceæ,
_Linn._ Solaneæ, _Juss._)
The thorn apple is an annual plant, a native of America, which gradually
diffused itself, from the south to the north, and is now naturalized to
this country, and is to be found very commonly about London growing on
dunghills, and by road sides. It flowers in July and August. Every part
of this plant is a strong narcotic poison, producing vertigo, and most
of those symptoms which we have described as the effects of belladonna,
although the former plant appears to excite the brain more violently.
_Dr. Barton_ mentions the case of two British soldiers, who ate it by
mistake, for the _chenopodium album_; one became furious, and ran about
like a madman; and the other died, with the symptoms of genuine tetanus.
In the fifth volume of the _Edinburgh Medical and Philosophical
Commentaries_, two cases are related by _Dr. Fowler_; and others are to
be found in the writings of _Haller_, _Krause_, _Sproegel_, _Gmelin_,
and _Orfila_, illustrative of the effects of this plant upon the human
species. There is reason to believe that this plant has been long known,
and that it has been very generally used by uncivilized nations, on
account of the narcotic effects which it occasions.