862 ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.

acuminate. Stamens five. Stigma two-lamellar. Capsule bristl)smooth, ovate, two-celled ; cells two- or many-parted with a P r ° mdissepiment ( Bot . Gall.) j oll -

Sp. Char. — Fruit spinous, ovate, erect. Leaves ovate, smooth*ated. (Smith.) jj n g,

A bushy, smooth, fetid herb. Stem much branched, forked, s P rca j [)aS e,leafy. Leaves from the forks of the stem, large, unequal at tlm ^ ;lvariously and acutely sinuated and toothed, simple-ribbed, veiny* atdull-green. Flowers axillary, erect, white, sweet-scented, especianight, about three inches long. Fruit as big as a walnut, in ltscoat very prickly. Seeds black. (Smith.) ' ia ],

Hab. — Indigenous : in waste ground and on dunghills. AFlowers in July. , v ] )C n

Description. —The herb ( herba stramonii) should be collected ' ^the plant is in flower. The leaves ( folia stramonii ) are then to be ^fully dried. In the fresh state their odour, when bruised, is unpl eand narcotic ; their taste nauseous and bitter. By drying the ° d ° l a u,lost, but the bitter taste remains. The seeds ( semina stramonii) arc SI aU Jcompressed, kidney-shaped, rougliish, dark-brown or blackish, dull*odourless : they have a bitter, nauseous, somewhat acrid taste- )1( ,-Composition. —The herb was analyzed, in 1815, by Promnitz i ^lin’s Handb. d. Chem. Bd. ii. S. 1305); the seeds, in 1820, by B raU(Ibid.)

Promniti's Analysis. " Brandes’s Analysis.

Resin ... . 0'12

Extractive [containing the Daturia ?] O'GO

Gummy extractive . 0"58

Green fecula. 0'64

Albumen . 0*15

Phosphatic and vegetable salts of

lime and magnesia . 0-23

Water . 91 - 25

Woody fibre. 5'15

Loss. 1-28

Fresh herb of Stramonium... 100-00

Malate of daturia with some uncrys- j.fjP

tallizable sugar . jg-0>

Fixed oil with some chlorophylle . -10

Wax. g-gtt

Resin insoluble in ether. p.fiO

Extractive .. g.()0

Gummy extractive . ll'.l a

Gum and bassorin with some salts—

Albumen and phytocolla. 5.5O

Glutenoin .

Malates of daturia, potash, and lime, ^ go

and acetate of potash . 03.

Woody fibre. ,rpl0

Water. j -95

Loss. _

Seeds of Stramonium .

100' 1

0 »

1. Daturia {Daturina or Daturium). —A vegetable alkali said to exist in strap 10 ^30,

The properties assigned to it by Geiger and Hesse (Pharm. Central-Blatt J ur ^),ichp. 85) are the following :—It crystallizes in colourless, odourless, brilliant p rlsI ? s ’ jj, <>rhave at first a bitterish, then a tobacco-like flavour. It requires 280 parts otf ^cf-72 parts of boiling water, to dissolve it: it is very soluble in alcohol, less so 1,1 aB dIn most of its properties it agrees with hyoscyamia. It strongly dilates the P U P ’has a poisonous action on animals. , e oUS

2. Empyreumatic oil of Stramonium. (Pyrodaturia ?). —Resembles tar and the a 'l ^| a ptfluid which distils along with its acid. This arises from the woody part of 11 eI ,iic»lhaving been employed. The oil itself does not differ, in its physical and c ,j or ries*properties, from the empyreumatic oil of foxglove, before (p. 838) described G

Ed. Med. and Surg. Joum. vol. 39, p. 379.)

Physiological Effects, (a.) On vegetables. —A branch of slr all * nI, ( ^ vl)tvas killed by immersing it in a watery solution of tlie extract ol isjjccies (Macairc, quoted by Dccandolle, Phys. Veg. p. 1354).

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