STRAMONIUM, the specific as well as common name of datura stramonium, other wise called Jamestown weed, jimson weed, and thorn-apple. The datura is /1 genus of solanacete, or the nightshade family, which includes the common potato, tomato, egg plant, bitter-sweet, common nightshade, horse nettle, ground cherry, and tobacco. Stra monium, or Jamestown weed, is very unequally distributed, being common in some locali ties, and rare iu others; but it generally grows in abandoned gardens and waste places, especially where ashes have been dumped, or where the soil is rich in potash, for ilds is the mineral ingredient in which it delights, as do the other members of the solanacere, especially the potato. In the suburbs of some cities (e.g , Brooklyn) it grows luxuriantly alongside old piles of ashes. Generic characteristics: calyx prismatic. 5 toothed; corolla funnel form, with a large and spreading 5 to 10 toothed, plaited border; stigma two lipped; pod globular, prolate, one and a half to two inches long, prickly, 4 valved, 2 celled, with thick placentm, projected from the axis into the middle of the cells, and connected with the walls by au imperfect false partition, so that the pod is 4 celled, except near the top; numerous fiat, angular, black seeds, which contain a powerful nar cotic poison, having peculiar properties. Its native country is not known, but most botanists believe it to tie Asia. De Candolle refers it to the countries bordering on the Caspian sea ; others regard it as coining from northern India. It is a comse, strong, vigorous, branching weed, growing from two to 6 feet high (in rich ground), leaves ovate, sinuate toothed, or angled. The alkaloid daturia was found in the seeds by Geiger and Besse in 1833, and subsequently in other parts of the plant. Von Planta in 1850 pro nounced this alkaloid to be identical with atropin in composition, solubility, and fusi bility; but the physical experiments of Von Schroff in 1852 showed that the two alka loids, though acting qualitatively alike, are very unequal in their effects, datura being about twice as strong as atropia (the active principle of belladonna). Trommsdoill ob tained stramokin as a white, tasteless powder, insoluble in water, E. oluLle in ether, sparingly soluble in alcohol. The other constituents of the seeds are about 25 per cent of a bland, fixed oil, mucilaginous, resinous, and other common principles. The physi ological action of stramonium varies with the animal to which it is given. Several kinds of caterpillars devour it without injury, and goats browse upon it. A decoction of the
leaves applied to the skin of a young rat has produced alternate debility and convulsions. Large do-es given to horses have produced drowsiness and even death. On man, stra monium and belladonna are almost identical in their action. The powdered leaves of stramonium in two-grain doses increase the fullness and frequency of the pulse, make the skin warm and the hands and face moist. Five-grain doses produce dilatation of the pupils, difficulty of speech, nausea, thirst, dryness of the throat, cat harsis, increased flow of urine, and feverishness. Larger doses cause high fever aud delirium, the patient sometimes becoming violent. There is dizziness, and the face is much flushed and oriel. swollen, the eyes bright. the conjunctiva red, the pupils dilated and the sight confused. Sometimes the skin is covered with a bright red eruption, which may be followed by minute vesicles. or have the appearance of erysipelas or of measles. Sometimes there are hydrophobic phe nomena, and convulsions will occur on attempting to drink, In tare fatal cases, the phenomena of excitement are succeeded by stupor, insensibility, and sometimes paraly sis. There is, in no ease, any tendency to sleep but, on the contrary, persistent insom nia. Among the perversions of the senses, is that of all black objects appearing green. At one time stramonium was believed to be a valuable remedy in insanity, hut not now, although there are isolated cases where its tire has been attended with benefit. In smite cases of epilepsy it is useful. In spasmodic asthma there is no doubt of its frequent beneficial action. The skepticism in regard to this has no doubt arisen from failure to diagnose the variety of asthma. To be of use it must be given in the purely spasmodic cases. The common method of administration is smoking the dried leaves in a tobacco pipe, or inhaling the smoke from a chafing-dish. It has been used internally to relieve whooping-cough, dysmenorrldea, and retention of mine. In the absence of helladonna, or atropin, it may be used to produce dilatation of the pupil in ophthalmoscopic opera tions. The physiological and elinieal antidote to stramonium is opium or its alkaloid morphia. Somethnes 15 grs. of muriate of morphia have been given, saving the life of the patient, a dose which otherwise would be fatal. Conversely, the antidote to opium is stramonium, or better, because more active, belladonna, or its alkaloid atropia.