Datura Stramonium: Origin and Names

the opinion, that itis originally an American plant. [ts native country, howeyer, is doubtful, from 3 18 DATURA STRAMONIUM. the want ef authentic descriptions of suflicient antiquity. One of the oldest satisfactory accounts of it is that of Gerarde in 1597, who has published a description and figure of this plant, and states that it was introduced into England by himself, from seeds received fromConstantinople. [Vole A.J * Its common name in Europe, derived from the form of its fruit,is Thorn apple. In this country its provincial names are pple of Peru, De- vil’s apple, and Jamestown weed, It is a plant of rank growth and luxuriant foliage, varying in height from one to six fect, according to the soil in which it grows. In Carolina it begins to flower in May, and in Massachusetts about the latter part of Ju- ly, and continues until the arrival of frosts. The Datura Stramonium belongs to the first order of the fifth class in the Linnean artificial arrangement, In its natural order it is found among the Luridz of Linneus and the Solanee of Jussicu. The following are the essential marks which characterize the genus Datura, The corolla funnel form and plaited. The calyw tu- bular, angular and deciduous. The capsule four valved—Under this genus are comprehended a number of species, 2 great part of which are na- tives of warm latitudes. ‘The species Stramoni- um is distinguished from the rest by the follow- TILORN APPLE. 419 ing character. Capsules thorny, erect, ovale; leaves ovate, angular, smooth—A more particular de- scription of the plant is as follows. Stem erect, simple at bottom, much branched at top by repeat- ed forks, smooth or slightly pubescent, hollow in the Jarge plants, often solid in small ones. Leaves given off from the forks of the stem, five or six inches long, acute, irregularly sinuated and tooth- ed, with large acute tecth and round sinuses, the sides of the base extending unequally down the petiole. Flowers single, axillary, on short stalks, erect or nodding. Calyx composed of one leaf, tubular, with five angles and five teeth, deciduous by breaking off from its base. Corolla funnel shaped with a long tube, five angled, its margin waved and folded, and terminating in five acumi- nate teeth, Stamens growing to the tube by their filaments, with oblong erect anthers. Germ su- perior, hairy with the rudiments of spines, ovate ; style as long as the stamens; stigma obtuse, parted at base. Capsule ovate, fleshy, covered with thorns, four valved, four celled, opening at top. Seeds numerous, reniform, black, attached to a longitudinal receptacle, which occupies the centre of each cell. At least two distinct yarietics of Datura Stra- monium are common in the United States. One 20 DATURA STRAMONIUM, of these has a green stalk and white flowers, and agrees with the figures of Sowerby and Woodville, except that the anthers are somewhat longer and the dissepiment of the capsule thinner, The sec- ond variety, the one represented in our figure, has a dark reddish stem, minutely dotted with green ; and purple flowers striped with deep pur- ple inside. It is generally a lai 1” plant, and its stem more universally hollow, ‘his variety is probably the D. tatula of Linnzeus, answering to the ceseription in the Species plantarum. The distinguishing marks laid down between the two plants are not sufficient to make them distinct species. I haye cultivated both together and watched them throughout their growth, without being able to detect any difference except in col- our. ‘Their sensible and medical properties are the same, Sir James Mdward Smith has lately informed me, that on consulting the herbarium of Linneus, the original specimens of D. Stramoni- um and tatula did not appear to be more than ya- ricties of the same plant. [Vote B.] Every part of the Stramonium, when recent, has a strong, heavy, disagreeable odour, and a bitter, nauseous taste. Taken internally it proves a violent narcotic poison, affecting the mind and body in the most powerful manner. Its usual THORN APPLE, 24 consequences when swallowed in considerable quantity, are yertigo and confusion of mind, in- sensibility of the retina, occasioning dilatation of the pupil and loss of sight, tremors of the limbs and loss of the power of voluntary motion, head- ach, dryness of the throat, nausea and yomiting, anxiety and faintness, and sometimes furious de- lirium. If the amount taken be large and not speedily ejected from the stomach, the symptoms pass into convulsions or lethargic stupor, which continue till death. When not fatal, its effects, like those of other narcotics, are temporary, dis- appearing in from one to two days, and frequent- ly in a shorter period.—The remedies to be re- sorted to in cases of poison from Stramonium, are a prompt emetic, followed by a free use of yegeta- ble acids and strong coffee. Many stories have been related of the power of this and other species of Datura to produce mental alienation, without at the same time ma- terially affecting the body. [-NoteC.] These ac- counts are generally of somewhat ancient date, and not correspondent with the observations of later physicians. They were suited to those days of eredulity, in which the Royal Society of London grayely inquired of Sir Philberto Vernatti, “Wheth- er the Indians can ,so prepare the stupifi 22 DATURA STRAMONIUM. herb Datura, that they make it lie several days, months, or years, according as they will have it, in a man’s body; and at the end kill him with- out missing half an hour’s time ?” Like opium and like other powerful medi- cines, this plant, when taken in small quantity, and under suitable regulations, proves a remedy of importance, and a useful agent in the hands of physicians. In common with some other narco- tics, it seems first to have been introduced freely into practice by Baron Storck of Vienna, as a rem- edy in Mania, Epilepsy, Convulsions, $c. Many subsequent physicians have given testimony to its efiicacy in certain forms of these disorders, yet the instances of its failure haye doubtless been more frequent than those of its success. In Murray’s Apparatus Medicaminum may be found a sum- mary of the reports of many medical men, who have tried it with various success in the diseases in question, as well as in others. Dr. Cullen has no doubt that it may be a remedy in certain ca- ses of mania and epilepsy ; but doubts if any per- son has learned to distinguish the cases to which it is properly adapted. Dr. Fisher, President of the Massachusetts Medical Society, has published in their communi- cations some remarks on the employment of Stra- THORN APPLE, 23 monium in epilepsy. He divides the cases of that disease into three kinds ; those of which the fits return daily ; those in which they recur at regular periods, as monthly, or give warning of their approach by previous symptoms ; lastly, those in which they do not observe any regular period, and do not give any warning of their ap- proach. In the two first kinds he asserts, that all the cases which came under his care, and which were not very few, had been cured by Stramoni- um. In those of the third kind he found it of no benefit whatever. Dr. Archer of Maryland has formed distinc- tions nearly similar in the application of Stramo- nium to epilepsy. In a case of Tic dolourenx of long standing 1 found the extract, taken in as large doses as the stomach would bear, to afford decided relicf. Sey- eral practitioners have spoken to me of its eflica- cy in this formidable disease. It should be ta- ken in large doses, and the system kept for some time under its influence. Within a few years, the thorn apple has at- tracted much notice, both in Europe and in this country, as an eflicacious palliative in Asthma and some other affections of the Jungs, when used by smoking, in the same manner as tobacco. ah DATURA STRAMONIUM. The practice was first suggested by the employ- ment of another species, the Datura feroa, for similar complaints, in the East Indies, An En- glish gentleman, having exhausted the stock with which he had been supplied of the oriental plant, was advised by Dr. Sims to have recourse to the common Stramonium as a substitute ; and upon trial, experienced the same benefit as he had done from the former species. This instance of suc- cess led to further trials, and in a short time sey- eral publications appeared, containing cases of great relief afforded by smoking this plant in the paroxysms of Asthma. Many individuals, of dif- ferent ages, habits, and constitutions, had used it with the effect of producing immediate relief, and of terminating the paroxysm in a short time. The efficacy however of this medicine was called in question by Dr. Bree, a physician well known hy his elaborate treatise on Asthma, who publish- ed in the Medical and Physical Journal a letter, containing the result of a great number of unsuc- cessful trials of Stramonium in asthmatic cases. It may be doubted whether any other physician has been so unfortunate in its use as Dr. Bree, since he affirms that not one case of those under his care was benefitted by it. Certain itis, that in this country the thorn apple is employed with TIIORN APPLE. 25 yery frequent success by asthmatic patients, and it would not be difficult to designate a dozen indi- viduals in Boston and its vicinity, who are in the habit of employing it with unfailing relicf in the paroxysms of this distressing complaint. The ca- ses, which it is fitted to relieve, are those of pure spasmodic asthma, in which it doubtless acts by its sedative and antispasmodic effects. In those depending upon effusion of scrum in the lungs, or upon the presence of exciting eauses in the first passages, or elsewhere, requiring to be remoyed; it must not be expected that remedies of this class can afford benefit. In seyeral cases of plethoric and intemperate people, I have found it fail altogether, and yenesection after- wards to give speedy relief. The part of the plant, which I have employed for smoking, is the leaf prepared in the same way as tobacco, ‘The root, which has commonly been the part used, is more woody and fibrous, and pos- sesses less of the juices of the plant, than its more pulpy and succulent parts. ‘Che root also, being strictly annual, has no opportunity to aceu- inulate the virtues of the plant, beyond any other part. in the seventh volume of the Medico-Chirur- gical Transactions, for 1816, is a paper on the 4 26 DATURA STRAMONIUM. propertics of the Stramonium by Dr. Marcet of London, Physician to Guy’s Hospital. As the result of his experience, it appeared that this medicine taken internally had relieved acute pains of various kinds more effectually than any other narcotic substance. Its usual effects under his observation, when administered in appropriate doses, in chronic diseases attended with acute pain; were, to lessen powerfully and almost imme- diately sensibility and pain; to occasion a sort of nervous shock, which is frequently attended with a momentary affection of the head and eyes, with a degree of nausea, and with phenomena re- sembling those produced by intoxication ; to ex- cite in many instances nervous sensations, which are referred to the esophagus or bronchiz or fau- ces, and which sometimes amount to a sense like suffocation ; to have rather a relaxing, than an astringent effeet on the bowels ; to have no mark- ed influence on the pulse, except in a few instan- ces to seem to render it slower; to produce but a transitory and inconsiderable dilatation of the pupil, and to have but little immediate tendency to produce sleep, except from the state of com- parative serenity and ease, which follows the pre- ceding symptoms.—In some instances its bene- ficial effects were obtained without the patient experiencing any of the uneasy sensations above mentioned.