ART II
Materia Medica.
209
and, sometimes a pustular eruption; at other times it purges;and in overdoses produces sickness, stupor, dimness of sight,hard pulse, delirium, and coma, with dilatation of the pupils;until the pulse gradually becoming weak and tremulous, pete-chia? make their appearance, and death ensues. Dissectionsshow the effects of inflammation both in the stomach and bow-els, and the membranes of the brain. After an emetic is given,and the stomach fully cleared, vinegar is the best antidote.
The effects of henbane as an anodyne were known to the an-cients 1 : but as those were ill-understood, and its use was al-most completely relinquished till the time of Baron Stoerck,he may be regarded as having introduced it. It may be em-ployed in all the cases in which the use of opium is indicated,where the latter disagrees with the habit, or where its consti-pating effect is wished to be avoided. In painful and spasmo-dic affections, hysteria, rheumatism, and gout, much benefithas resulted from its use; and we have found it particularlyserviceable when united with colocynth, or other powerful ca-thartics, in colica pictonum. It is used externally to lessen andallay the irritation of very sensible parts: hence fomentationsof the leaves have been found serviceable in scrophulous. andcancerous ulcers, hasmorrhoids, and other painful swellings;and Hufeland recommends the leaves and marsh-mallow flowersboiled in milk, with the addition of a few grains of acetate oflead, as a topical application in scrophulous ophthalmia. Itseffects in dilating the pupil, when an infusion of it is droppedinto the eye, are similar to those of Belladonna, and hence it isalso employed as a preparative to the operation for cataract.It is used, generally, in the forms of extract and tincture only.Officinal preparations. Extraction Hyoscyami. L. E. D. TincturaHyoscyami. L. E. D.
HYSSOPUS. Spec. Plant. Willd. iii. 47.CI. 14. Ord.l. I}idynamia Gymnospermia. Nut. ord. Verticil-
latas Linn. Labiatae Juss.G. 1096. Corolla, lower lip three-parted, with a small intermediate
subcrenate segment. Stamens straight, distant.Species 1. H. officinalis. Common Hyssop. Med. Bot. 2d ed. 318.
t. 113.Officinal. Hyssopi officinalis herba. Edin. Hyssopus ; fo-lia. Dub. The herbaceous part and leaves of Efyssop.
Syn. Hyssojie {F.) Isop (G.) Isopo (1.) Hysopo (S.) Zuffiiy yeabus (Arab.)
This is a perennial plant, a native of Siberia and Austria;cultivated in our gardens 2 , and flowering from June to Sep-
1 Hyosciamus in potu cibove sumptus, qualem ebriorum mentis alietiartioirtem fnfert.Diitscorul. AUx-if. e. xv. 407. * It was firsi cultivated in .England by G^rartL- in
l:>96. It is not tlie esof of the Hebrews, i.or til- veautxas of the Greeks, it !ias beensupposed to be tb<' zuje or ciff? of the Arabians. Alston's Mat, il/e in. 1 32.
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