Solanaceæ.
Nightshade Family.
Solanum nigrum, L.
Nom. Vulg.—Hierba mora, Sp.; Konty, Onty, Gamagamatisan, Tag.; Lagpakon, Bolagtob, Lubilubi, Vis.; Kuty, Lubilubi, Bic.; Black or Common Nightshade, Eng.
Uses.—In the Philippines the entire plant is boiled and used for food, with the precaution of pouring off the first 2 or 3 waters in which it is cooked, which contain an active principle capable of causing such disagreeable symptoms as vertigo and nausea. A decoction of the leaves serves to cleanse chronic sores and in fact improves their condition; it is also used as a lotion for various forms of dermatitis, for erysipelas and old burns.
The plant is narcotic, antispasmodic and like belladonna it dilates the pupil.
In India the decoction is given internally, 200–250 grams, for hypertrophy of the liver, and it is considered a good diuretic and alterative. For such uses they heat the above dose in a clay vessel till the color changes from green to brown, when it is cooled and given next day. Its action is diuretic and hydragogue-cathartic. Mooden Sheriff recommends this treatment highly, and for dropsy further advises the aqueous extract, 12 grams during the day divided into 3 or 4 doses. Small doses of 30–60 grams of the decoction prepared as above described, are of use in some chronic skin diseases such as psoriasis.
In 1821 Defosses, of Besançon, obtained solanine from the fruit, previously isolated from the S. Dulcamara.
Botanical Description.—A plant about 2° high, stem straight, 3–4-angled, with white dots. Leaves lanceolate. Flowers white, in 2-ranked racemes. Calyx inferior, 5 persistent teeth. Corolla, 5 petals somewhat down-curved. Berry small, black when ripe.
Habitat.—Universally common. Blooms in January.
Capsicum fastigiatum, Bl. (C. minimum, Roxb.)
Nom. Vulg.—Chili picante, Sp.-Fil.; Sili, Tag.; Capsicum, Red Pepper, etc., Eng.
Uses.—The fruit of this species of pepper plant is called agí in Cuba and Porto Rico; it is in common use as a condiment in the Philippines. As a tonic and stimulant it is a useful article of food in hot countries where the digestive functions become sluggish. Used in moderation it prevents dyspepsia and consequent diarrhœa. It is used as a gargle for hoarseness, decreasing the congestion of the larynx and vocal cords.
Gargle.—
| Tincture of capsicum | 8 grams. |
| Water | 160 grams. |
Mix.
Recently capsicum in powder, extract, or tincture, has been recommended internally in the treatment of incipient hemorrhoids. The dose is .50 to 3 grams of the powder in pills or capsules; watery extract, 0.30–0.60; tincture, 10–30 drops.
The C. annuum, L., and other varieties of red pepper serve the same uses as the above.
Botanical Description.—Stem 4-angled. Leaves opposite, ovate-lanceolate, entire. Petioles short. Flowers greenish-white in little clusters, drooping. Corolla wheel-shaped. Fruit straight, conical, slender, scarcely 1′ long.
Habitat.—Universally common in the islands. Blooms at all times.
Datura alba, Nees. (D. Metel, Roxb. and Blanco.)
Nom. Vulg.—Talamponay, Tag., Pam.; Takbibug̃, Vis.; Dhatura, Indo-Eng.
Uses.—The applications of this species are identical with those of D. Stramonium and it is official in the Pharmacopœia of India. It is antispasmodic, narcotic and toxic, and is used quite commonly with criminal intent in India and Indo-China. The cooked and bruised leaves make an efficient poultice in articular rheumatism.
The symptoms of poisoning by “dhatura” are: dilatation of the pupil, general malaise, dryness of the fauces and skin, hallucinations, rapid pulse, coma and death or permanent mania.
The dry leaf is smoked to abort asthma, and though its action is uncertain, it is one of the many remedies that should be tried, which though ineffective in one case may in another afford positive relief in this distressing disease. Not more than 1.50 grams should be smoked in one day and their use should be discontinued if any symptom of intoxication supervenes. The Pharmacopœia of India contains a tincture made from 75 grams of the ground seeds and 500 grams of alcohol. Dr. Waring states that 20 drops of this tincture are equivalent to 6 centigrams of opium and that in some cases it has given him better narcotic results than the opium. The extract is made from 500 grams of the powdered seeds, 500 cc. ether, 500 cc. alcohol and 500 cc. water. Dose, 5–20 centigrams a day in 4 doses.
The D. fastuosa, L., known in Manila by the common name of Talamponay na itim, Tag., possesses the same properties as the above. The Filipino physician, Sr. Zamora, successfully employed a poultice of bruised leaves cooked in vinegar and applied to the forehead and backs of the hands to reduce the fever of tuberculous patients.
Neither the leaves nor seeds of these two varieties of Datura have been studied from a chemical standpoint, but there is little doubt that the active principle is the daturine (atropine and hyoscyamine) that exists so abundantly in D. Stramonium.
Botanical Description.—Plant 5–6° high, with nodose branches, forked. Leaves ovate, angled, somewhat downy. Flowers large, white, axillary, solitary. Calyx tubular, 5-toothed. Corolla funnel-shaped, the limb 5-angled and 5-folded. Stamens 5, same length as calyx. Anthers long, flattened. Stigma thick, oblong, divisible in 2 leaves. Seed vessel globose, thorny, 4-valved over the base of the calyx. Seeds numerous, flattened, kidney-shaped. (Resembles closely the common Jamestown Weed of America, though much taller with much larger flowers.)
Habitat.—Common on the shores of the sea. The D. fastuosa is differentiated by its violet flowers and double corolla.
Nicotiana Tabacum, L.
Nom. Vulg.—Tabaco, Sp.; Tobacco, Eng.
Uses.—Tobacco is a powerful sedative and antispasmodic, but owing to the accidents it may give rise to, its use in therapeutics is very limited. Like all the active Solanaceæ it is effective against neuralgia and spasm of the muscular tissues and is therefore indicated in strangulated hernia and in intestinal obstruction. In these conditions the infusion of 1–5 grams of the dried leaf to 250 grams of water is given by enema. Trousseau advises non-smokers who suffer from chronic constipation to smoke a cigarette fasting, a practice which, according to him, stimulates defecation. For the same condition the people of southern India are accustomed to apply a poultice of the bruised leaves to the anal region.
Tobacco has been used by enema to combat tetanus; Dr. Lesth, of the General Hospital for Europeans, Bombay, claims to have obtained excellent results by applying a poultice over the entire length of the spinal column. Dr. Dymock has confirmed this practice.
A decoction of the leaves is used as a lotion to destroy “pediculi capitis and pubis,” and to wash gangrenous ulcers.
The daily increasing practice of smoking, like all other subjects, divides mankind into two camps, one for and one against the habit. Both parties exaggerate their arguments. The abuse of the plant without doubt sets up disturbances of the digestion, the heart and the nervous system. It is furthermore positive that persons of a certain disposition and with certain ailments are injured by even a moderate use of tobacco. The above facts serve as arms for the opponents of the habit; the robust who smoke and drink to excess and meet with an accidental death on a railroad or from an acute disease that overtakes them in the midst of perfect health, serve as arguments for the defenders, to prove the innocence of the custom. The antiseptic qualities of the smoke and of the entire plant also lend the smoker a defensive argument, as he may uphold the habit as hygienic and highly useful in preventing microbic infection. The antiseptic power of tobacco smoke is undoubted, but it is intolerable that a physician under the pretext of avoiding self infection should enter the house of his patient and continue smoking at the bedside.
Chronic nicotine poisoning is the result of a gradual intoxication by the absorption of the active principle of tobacco, the alkaloid nicotine. Excessive smoking conduces to nicotism, more common in Europe than in the tropics, because the natives of Europe smoke the pipe and being confined in closed dwellings, breathe continuously an atmosphere of smoke; in the Philippines, on the contrary, the pipe is almost unknown and owing to the nature of the dwellings the smoking is carried on practically in the open air. An injurious practice of the Filipino smokers is that of “swallowing the smoke,” and this is a fitting point to call attention to an error of Dujardin-Beaumetz, who states that “in those who habitually swallow the smoke the nicotine acts directly upon the stomach.” The expression “swallow smoke” (tragar el humo) does not mean to force it into the stomach by an act of deglutition, and I am sure no one attempts to dispose of it in that way; but to inspire or breath it into the air passages. It is evident that this latter habit does not involve the stomach, but those who practice it expose themselves more to nicotism than those who keep the smoke in the mouth or expel it through the nose.
The first cigar causes symptoms familiar to nearly everybody; dizziness, malaise, cold sweat, vomiting, diarrhœa, dilatation of the pupils and rapid heart action—an acute intoxication. Chronic intoxication or nicotism manifests itself by disturbances of digestion, vision and especially circulation. It has been assigned as one of the causes of early atheroma and of angina pectoris. It should therefore be proscribed in persons who present symptoms of gastro-intestinal or of heart disease, and in every patient who complains of slight precordial pains, commonly attributed to flatus, but in reality cardiac neuralgia, a fugitive symptom announcing the possibility of that grave accident, angina pectoris, capable of ending the life of the patient with one stroke.
Nicotine (C10H14N2) is an oleaginous liquid heavier than water, colorless, changing to dark yellow on contact with the air. Nicotianin or “camphor of tobacco” is another substance found in the leaves, crystalline, tasteless, with an odor resembling tobacco. Nicotinic acid is a product of the combustion of nicotine.
Botanical Description.—The tobacco plant is so familiar to all Americans that its description here would be superfluous. It grows in all parts of the islands, the best qualities being cultivated in the northern provinces of Luzon, especially Cagayan and La Isabela.