seeds. The treatment laid down for the relief of poisoning from belladonna is applicable to these cases.

The medicinal uses of stramonium are similar to those of belladonna. It is prescribed internally in neuralgia, whoopingcough, mania, and epilepsy; and in spasmodic asthma, cigarettes of the leaves are smoked with great relief. The practice is, however, dangerous in aged or apoplectic persons. Topically, stramonium is used by oculists to dilate the pupils and diminish the sensibility of the retina to light; and it is an excellent anodyne application, in the form of cataplasm and ointment, to inflammatory tumours, irritable ulcers, bed-sores, and hæmorrhoids.

Administration.-The dose of the powdered leaves is gr. ij; of the seeds, a grain, to be repeated and gradually increased till narcotic effects are produced. Dose of the extract (made from the seed) gr. 2. The fluid extract (dose my ij-v), the tincture (10 parts of the seed to 100 parts of tincture, dose my v−xxx), and the ointment, made by mixing the extract with benzoinated lard, are also officinal.

HYOSCYAMUS.

Hyoscyami Folia, Hyoscyamus Leaves.

Hyoscyamus niger, or Henbane (Nat. Ord. Solanaceæ), is a native of Europe, and is naturalized in the northern parts of the United States. It grows to the height of about two feet, with large sinuated, pale-green leaves, and flowers of a strawyellow colour. The whole plant has narcotic properties; but the LEAVES only are officinal. They should be gathered from plants of the second year's growth when in flower. The active properties of the plant depend upon two alkaloids, one crystallizable, termed hyoscyamine (C17H2NO), isomeric with atropine, but more soluble in water; the other amorphous, semi-liquid, to which Ladenburg has given the name of hyoscine, and which, though isomeric with hyoscyamine, differs from it very materially.

Effects and Uses.-Hyoscyamine when pure is probably identical in its action with atropine. Some observers state that it acts as a hypnotic, a result which others attribute to the pres

ence of hyoscine in the preparation used. The latter alkaloid acts as a hypnotic, and reduces the pulse rate (Gnauck).

The effects of henbane on the system much resemble those of belladonna. They differ from those of opium in their comparatively feeble hypnotic effect, and in their relaxing influence on the bowels. In large doses it causes dilatation of the pupil, delirium, loss of vision, and, generally, sleep. It is eliminated by the kidneys. In cases of poisoning, the same general treat

ment is to be pursued as for belladonna and stramonium. According to M. Gnauck (Archiv. de Neurologie, July, 1883) morphine is the best antidote. Henbane may be used remedially, in the same diseases as belladonna and stramonium, than which it is, however, less active. It has been administered also, from the earliest days, to palliate cough, where opium is objectionable from its constipating or nauseating influence, and as a hypnotic, to children. The extract is frequently added to purgative pills

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to increase their efficiency and prevent griping. Hyoscyamine is highly recommended (Lawson), in the dose of gr. j-jss., to quiet the violence of various forms of mania. A's, however, gr. of the pure alkaloid has produced violent poisoning (Lancet, 1879, i., 474, quoted by H. C. Wood) it is best to begin with a smaller dose. Gnauck gives the dose as gr. 10-3 hypodermically. Externally, hyoscyamus is employed in the form of cataplasm or fomentation to painful swellings and ulcers, and it may be used to dilate the pupil, in the same manner as belladonna.

Dose of the powder, gr. v-x. The abstract is given in doses of gr. ss.-ij. Tincture (15 per cent.), dose f3j. An alcoholic extract (a preparation of uncertain strength-dose gr. ij, increased until some effect is produced) and a fluid extract (dose gtt. x-xx) are also officinal.

HYOSCYAMINÆ SULPHAS (Hyoscyamine Sulphate) occurs in the form of small, yellowish-white scales or crystals, or a yellowish-white powder, deliquescent on exposure to the air, without smell, but possessing an acrid, bitter taste. It is very soluble in water and alcohol. The officinal sulphate above described, is said to be mixed "with hyoscine sulphate, more or less contaminated with colouring matter "(Stillé and Maisch). "The white crystallized hyoscyamine sulphate is more expensive, but much more reliable" (U. S. Dispensatory). The dose has been variously stated by different authors, due evidently to the variable purity of the drug; as, however, gr. 40 of the pure alkaloid has produced violent poisoning, it is better to begin with gr. hypodermically, and gradually increase the dose until some effect is produced.

DUBOISIA.

The leaves of the Duboisia myopœoides (Nat. Ord. Solanaceae), a tree-like shrub of Australia. They are three to four inches long and one inch broad, entire, smooth, and lanceolate. An alkaloid, duboisine, has been isolated (Gerrard and Petit, 1878), resembling atropine in action; chemically, it differs from it in being coloured brown by sulphuric acid, and is more soluble in water. Its salts are readily soluble in water. Dose for

ophthalmic purposes, gr. ij to iv to f3j water. Its physiological action is antagonized by opium and physostigma. Duboisine produces almost similar effects to those of atropine. The mental excitement, however, which it causes, is followed by stupor. Its effect is best seen on the pupil, which it dilates no matter how exhibited. It differs from atropine in causing more rapid dilatation, total paralysis of accommodation, and in being less irritating. The use of duboisine is confined to ocular therapeutics. (On Duboisia, Norris, Ringer, Seely, Weeker, and Bancroft.)

CANNABIS AMERICANA-AMERICAN CANNABIS.

CANNABIS INDICA—INDIAN CANNABIS (FEMALE PLANT).

Cannabis sativa, or Hemp (Nat. Ord. Urticaceae), is a native of Persia, and is cultivated in Europe and in the United States. Narcotic virtues were formerly thought to exist only in the Cannabis Indica, or Indian variety of the plant, but recent investigation seems to show that the hemp plants raised in the southern States, as Kentucky, are active, and might replace the East Indian drug.

Gunjah is the dried compressed female flowers; churrus is an impure resinous exudation, while bhang consists of the broken stalks and leaves made up with fruits; it is known as haschisch.

Cannabis Americana is the Cannabis Sativa grown in the southern United States and collected while flowering; Cannabis Indica is the FLOWERING TOPS of the female plant of Cannabis sativa grown in the East Indies. By evaporating a concentrated alcoholic solution of the latter, an EXTRACT is obtained (extractum cannabis Indice), which is the form usually employed. Extract of hemp is of a dark olive-green colour, a fragrant narcotic odour, and a bitter, acrid taste. It is soluble in alcohol and ether, but not in water. The resin, which is supposed to be the active principle, has received the name of cannabin. A volatile oil has been isolated, which has been decomposed into cannabene and cannabene hydride. Several alkaloids have been discovered in small amounts, of which the principal are cannabinine and

tetanocannabine, so named because it possesses tetanizing effects similar to strychnine.

Effects and Uses.-Indian hemp is not used locally. Nervous system in medicinal doses it exerts a peculiar exhilarating effect upon the brain, the mental excitement induced by it being of an agreeable kind. In this condition ideas flow readily, and conception of time is lost. Sometimes the delirium induced by hemp causes the individual to do deeds of violence, but it does not act upon all alike. One of the symptoms is a sense of weight about the extremities, accompanied by a loss of muscular power, and often a cataleptic state; there is also cutaneous anesthesia. Sleep follows the intoxicating effects of hemp, and the individual is unconscious of what has happened when recovery has taken place. The after-effects are those of depression. It has no action upon respiration, circulation, or the secretions. It is said to increase the appetite, and aphrodisiac properties have been attributed to it. It is unknown how it is eliminated. Though lethal doses of hemp have produced alarming symptoms, there are no recorded fatal cases. It has been chiefly extolled as an antispasmodic in traumatic tetanus, but has been employed with success in other spasmodic diseases, as chorea, hysteria, etc., to relieve cerebral irritability in diabetes, and as an anodyne in rheumatism, gout, neuralgia, etc. It has also been given with advantage as an hypnotic in both mania and mania-a-potu ; and its powers of exciting uterine contractions, and of checking uterine hæmorrhagic discharges, are highly spoken of. Dose, from half a grain to two or more grains. A tincture (20 per cent. dose my v-xxx) and a fluid extract (extractum cannabis Indica fluidum) is also officinal; dose, my j-xv. As various samples of cannabis differ much in strength, it is better, when first using a new one, to begin with the minimum dose, to avoid unpleasant effects.

HUMULUS-HOPS.

Hops are the STROBILES of Humulus Lupulus, or Hop-vine (Nat. Ord. Urticaceæ), a climbing vine, indigenous in Europe, and probably also in North America, with serrated, rough leaves and greenish-yellow flowers. The medicinal portion is the fruit,