The cases in which Dr. Marcet employed the Stramonium, with their results, appear in the following summary. In four cases of Sciatica, decided benefit was obtained. The efficacy of the medicine was still more strongly marked in two cases of sciatica combined with syphilitic pains. It failed in two instances of diseased hip joint. It produced considerable relief of pain in a case of supposed disease of the spine, followed by paraplegia; and likewise in one of cancer of the breast. It allayed materially the pain occasioned by an acute uterine disease. It was of great and repeated utility in a case of Tic doloureux, its utility in a second case of the same description was very doubtful, and in a third it entirely failed.

There are some authorities for the success of Stramonium in Chorea. Professor Chapman of Philadelphia has found it of use in dysmenorrhea, also with or without mercury in syphilitic and scrophulous ulcers of ill condition.

The external use of Stramonium is of much older date than its internal exhibition. Gerarde in his Herbal, published in 1597, says, "The iuyce of Thorne apples, boiled with hog's grease to the forme of an unguent or salve, cureth all inflammations whatsoever, all manner of burnings or scaldings, and that in very short time, as my

self have found by my dayly practise, to my great credit and profit." " Others, since the time of Gerarde, have used this preparation, if not with the same gratifying success, at least with some benefit as an anodyne, sedative application. It mitigates the pain in burns and inflammatory tumors, and promotes the cure of certain cutaneous eruptions. In some irritable ulcers with thickened edges and a sanious discharge, I have found it remarkably efficacious in changing the condition and promoting the granulations and cicatrization. In painful hemorrhoidal tumors the ointment of Stramonium with the ointment of acetate of lead gives, in many cases, very prompt and satisfactory relief, being in this respect inferior to no application, with which I have been acquainted.

Applied topically to the eye, the preparations of Stramonium diminish the sensibility of the retina, and relax the iris. From this effect it is employed by many surgeons to dilate the pupil, as preparatory to the operation for cataract.

The virtues of Stramonium appear to be seat. ed in an extractive principle, which dissolves in water and alcohol, but most readily in the former. It is copiously precipitated from the infusion by muriate of tin. With sulphate of iron it gives a deep green colour, and with gelatin suf

fers no change. Water distilled from the plant has the sensible qualities in a slight degree, but does not seem to possess the medicinal powers of the plant. Dr. S. Cooper, in a valuable dissertation on this plant, says, that an ounce of the distilled water was taken into the stomach with little or no effect. The same gentleman states, that upon evaporating the infusion of Stramonium, he observed a large number of minute crystals, resembling particles of nitre. Thinking it possible that these might be something analogous to the crystals, said to be obtained by Derosne from opium, and by him denominated the narcotic principle, I repeated the experiment by carefully evaporating separate decoctions of the green and dried leaves. No crystals however were discoverable at any stage of the process, either to the touch, or to the eye assisted by a strong magnifier.

The forms in which the Stramonium is prepared for use are the powder, the inspissated juice, the extract, the tincture and the ointment. The powder should be made as soon as the plant is dry, and kept in close stopped bottles.-The inspissated juice is made by compressing the bruised leaves in a strong bag, until the juice is forced out. This is to be evaporated in flat vessels at

to one.

the heat of boiling salt water to the thickness of honey; it is then suffered to cool, put up in glazed vessels and moistened with alcohol. The extract is prepared by immersing a pound of the leaves in three gallons of water and boiling down The decoction should then be strained and stand six hours to settle, after which it may be drawn off and evaporated to the proper consistence. When the seeds are used, the decoction should stand a longer time to separate the oil with which the cotyledons abound, before evaporation. A larger amount of extract may be obtained by boiling the portion, which has been used, a second time in a smaller quantity of water, and mixing the two decoctions before evaporation. For the tincture one ounce of the dried leaves is to be digested for a week in eight ounces of proof spirit, and filtrated through paper. In making the ointment, a pound of the fresh leaves may be simmered in three pounds of hog's lard until the leaves become crisp. It is then to be strained, and cooled gradually.

The period for gathering the leaves is from the time the plant begins to flower, until the arrival of frost.

As the preparations of Stramonium are liable to vary in strength according to the circumstances

under which they are made, it is always prudent to begin with the smallest dose, and repeat it about three times a day, increasing each dose until the effects begin to appear in the stomach or head.

The commencing doses of the Stramonium, when properly prepared, are as follows.

BOTANICAL REFERENCES.

Datura Stramonium, LINNEUS Sp. pl. Fl. Suec. 185 &c.— GRONOVIUS Fl. Virg. 23.-EDER. Fl. Danica 436.-BLACKWELL t. 313.-GMELIN Iter i. 43.-POLLICH. Palatin. 224.— HOFFMANN Germ. 77.-ROTH Fl. Germ. i. 92 &c.-WOODVILLE t. 124.-CURTIS Lond. vi. t. 17.-SMITH Fl. Brit. 254.-Engl. Bot. t. 1288.-PURSH Amer. 141.—ELLIOTT Carol. i. 275.— Stramonium foliis angulosis &c. HALLER Helv. 586. Nuci metellæ congener planta, CAMERARIUS Epitome 276.-Solanum fœtida pomo spinoso, oblongo, &c. BAUHIN pin. 168.-Stramonium spinosum, GERARDE Herbal 348.

MEDICAL REFERENCES.

STORCK de Stramonio &c.-LINDENSTOLPE de venenis, 531.-. SAUVAGES Nosol. 2. 430.-GREDING in Ludwigs Adversaria i. 345.-MURRAY App. Med. i. 670.-CULLEN Mat. Med. ii. 281.— FOWLER in Med. Comment. v. 161.—ODHELIUS cit. in Med. Comment v. 161,-PAPIN in Phil. Truns. abr. vi. 58.-RUSH in Philad.