STRAMONIUM
The Thorn Apple, Datura Stramonium (N.O. Solanaceæ), possesses powerful poisonous properties. These are marked by the production of giddiness, impairment of vision, and syncope. Furious delirium is not infrequent; and in one case where this state was present there was loss of speech. The face is usually flushed, the eyes glistening and restless, and the pupils dilated; in short, the countenance is that of one intoxicated. Taken together, the symptoms are not unlike those produced by belladonna.
Poisoning by stramonium seeds is a favourite mode of procedure among the Hindoos; but as the poison is most frequently given to facilitate robbery, death seldom results from its use. In India, the seeds are mixed with the boiled rice so commonly eaten there, and as they closely resemble the seeds of the common capsicum, the dangerous nature of the mixture is not readily detected. The seeds of the datura can be distinguished by the taste, which is slightly bitter, whereas that of the capsicum is hot and pungent. The outward application of the leaves may give rise to all the appearances of poisoning.
The active principle of stramonium is the alkaloid Daturine, which crystallises in colourless quadrangular prisms, with a bitter acrid taste. It resembles atropine and hyoscyamine in chemical properties.
Post-mortem Appearances.—Congestion of the vessels of the brain and its membranes, with some slight gastric irritation.
Treatment.—As for belladonna, emetics and purgatives, to get rid of the portions of the plant swallowed.
Some other solanaceous plants—Solanum Dulcamara, Bittersweet or Woody Nightshade, Solanum nigrum, or Garden Nightshade, and the Solanum tuberosum, or Potato—possess poisonous properties. They, like the other members of the order to which they belong, give rise to symptoms characterised by giddiness, dimness of sight, trembling of the limbs, and delirium. The water in which the potato has been boiled is sometimes used by the vulgar as an application to favus of the scalp.
The active principle of these plants resides in an alkaloid, Solanine, which is not a very powerful poison. A rabbit has been killed in a few hours by two grains of the sulphate of solanine.