While under the influence of these narcotics the mind seems to be subjected to a troubled dream, and the person suffering from it indulges in fits of uncontrollable laughter. Beverley, the historian of Jamaica, quaintly describes the effects of the thorn-apple. Some soldiers, who were sent to quell the rebellion in the island, ate of it: “the effect was a very pleasant comedy, for they turned natural fools upon it for several days. One would blow up a feather in the air, another would dart straws at it with much fury. Another, stark naked, was sitting up in a corner grinning like a monkey, and making mouths at them. A fourth would fondly kiss and paw his companions, and sneer in their faces with a countenance more antic than a Dutch doll. In this frantic condition they were confined, lest in their folly they should destroy themselves. A thousand simple tricks they played; and, after eleven days, returning to themselves again, not remembering anything that had occurred.”
The extract of Stramonium or common thorn-apple has occasionally, when injudiciously administered, produced similar effects upon the individual to whom it has been given, affecting the senses, particularly that of sight. “Imaginary objects are seen to play before the eyes, at which the victim strikes, as they seem to terrify him. And similar results have occurred from the use of the seeds.” Fowler relates a case of a child who supposed that cats, dogs, and rabbits were running along the tops and sides of the room. Dr. Winslow says “that when inhaled, the smoke conveys a sense of gentle tranquillity, the muscles of the thorax, and those which have been called into action to assist them, in the paroxysms of asthma which the smoking is resorted to to relieve, are rendered less irritable and the fibre is relaxed, sleep is induced, but there is rarely any disturbance of the imagination.”
In France and Germany, this plant has been resorted to for the basest of purposes, and many unhappy victims have been consigned to hopeless insanity by its means, details of which would be far more horrible than interesting. Faber also speaks of its use by the ladies of the Turkish harems; but there is doubt whether this is not one of those marvels, of which many may be met with in connection with medicinal agents, containing more of romance than reality. Dr. Ainslie states that the seeds form one of the ingredients of the confection of hemp and opium known under the name of madjoun in India; as henbane is asserted to enter into the composition of that in use under the same, or a similar name, in Egypt. The proportion of either of these when used is doubtless small, and is in most cases dispensed with.
Etymologists declare that the name of belladonna, which has been given to the deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) was so given because those to whom it was administered fancied they saw beautiful females before them.[35] There is no doubt that it produces illusions of a singular character, and cases of impulsive insanity have resulted from its use in repeated doses. The effect of belladonna upon the brain is more extraordinary than those usually attendant upon the use of other narcotics. Persons who have been poisoned by the berries of the plant have become restless and delirious, complained of dimness of vision, and subsequently loss of sight. There were observed frequent spasmodic contractions of the muscles of the eyeballs and the throat, with strong symptoms of mania. Six soldiers who were poisoned by the plant exhibited delirium the most extravagant, and commonly of the most pleasing kind, accompanied with immoderate and uncontrollable paroxysms of laughter, sometimes with constant talking, but occasionally with complete loss of speech. Buchanan relates that the Scots mixed a quantity of the juice of belladonna with the bread and drink which, by their truce, they were to supply the Danes with, which so intoxicated them, that the Scots killed the greater part of Sweno’s army while asleep.
The effects of belladonna on the brain are well described by Dr. Winslow, than whom no better authority can be desired. “One of the marvellous effects of continued doses is the production of a singular psychological phenomenon. A delirium supervenes, unaccompanied by any fantasia, or imaginary illusion, whose marked characteristic is somnambulism. An individual who has taken it in several doses seems to be perfectly alive to surrounding objects, his senses conveying faithfully to the brain the impressions that they receive; he goes through his usual avocations without exhibiting any unwonted feeling, yet is he quite unconscious of his existence, and performs mechanically all that he is accustomed to do, answers questions correctly, without knowing from whom or from whence they proceed, looks at objects vacantly, moves his lips as if conversing yet utters not a sound, there is no unusual state of the respiratory organs, no alteration of the pulse, nothing that can bespeak excitement. When this state of somnambulism passes away, the individual has not the slightest recollection of what has occurred to him; he reverts to that which immediately preceded the attack, nor can any allusion to his apparent reverie induce him to believe that he has excited any attention. The case of the tailor who remained on his shopboard for fifteen hours, performing all his usual avocations, sewing with great apparent earnestness, using all the gestures which his business requires, moving his lips as if speaking, yet the whole of the time perfectly insensible, has been frequently quoted. It was produced by belladonna.”
The use of this plant has been recommended as a preventive of scarlatina. An instance is recorded of a family consisting of eleven persons who took it for this purpose, in small quantities, twice a day. Five of these persons were domestics. On the fourth day, almost all of them became under the influence of the drug, two or three of them very slightly, simply complaining of having the vision disturbed by objects which they in vain attempted to remove, for they were fully persuaded that they existed. Two had singular fits of laughter which nothing could control. All complained of being in an unusual state. The servants were all of them able to go through their work, but all seemed to act mechanically, each independent of the other. Of this the most ludicrous example was in the course of the fourth evening. A carriage arrived at the street door, and the street bell was rung with considerable violence. They all immediately left their business, quietly walked up stairs as if they had not the slightest idea that they were all upon the same errand. They went to the door; two of them, however, only opened it; one of these walked away without waiting to know what was the reason of the ringing, and the other seemed not disposed to trouble himself with anything beyond the opening and shutting of the door. On the discontinuance of the medicine, they all soon returned to their usual state, and two of them had scarlatina, though only in a mild form.
From this descriptive account of the action of belladonna, and its singular effects upon the mind, approaching to a form of insanity, it will appear strange that this drug should be recommended by Hahnemann and his followers for the cure of insanity. But this is the very principle upon which that school operates.[36] That drug which produces, in its effects the worst forms of mania, is the best adapted for its cure. We are not, however, either apologists, exponents, or opponents of homœopathy, and will leave its supporters to champion their own cause.
Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) is another of these powerful narcotic agents, educing symptoms analogous to insanity. In small doses, its effect is to produce a pleasant sleep and soothe pain. In larger doses, the effects are extremely deleterious. Two soldiers who ate the young shoots dressed with olive oil, became giddy and stupid, lost their speech, had a dull and haggard look. The limbs were cold and palsied, and a singular combination of delirium and coma manifested itself. As the palsy and somnolency decreased, the delirium became extravagant. Others who partook of the same species of plant by mistake were affected in a similar manner. Several were delirious and danced about the room like maniacs, and one appeared as if he had got drunk. A French physician gives an account of nine persons who were nearly poisoned by eating the roots of henbane. The effects of this poison were horrible in the extreme; in five, out of the nine, it produced raving madness. The madness of all these was so complete, and their agitation so violent, that in order to give one of them an antidote, six strong men had to be employed to hold him down, while his teeth were being separated to pour down the remedy. For two or three days after their recovery, every object appeared to them as red as scarlet.
Henbane, which is often administered as a substitute for opium, and in the East occasionally mixed with it, has the extraordinary faculty of producing jealousy. Many authenticated cases are recorded of the power of the leaves, and the fumes of the seeds, over the more intense passions. A disposition to quarrel and fight is decidedly produced. One case is that of a young couple, who had married from affection, had lived upon terms of the most perfect mutual regard—indeed, had been noticed for the warmth and strength of their attachment; but suddenly, to the surprise of the surrounding neighbours, their harmony was not only interrupted, but they became bitter antagonists, fighting and beating each other most unmercifully. What seemed most surprising was, that in one particular room appeared to spring their most determined quarrels, and that they soon subsided elsewhere. This mystery was at length explained, and their days of happiness restored, by the discovery that to the effects of a considerable quantity of henbane, stored up for drying, their miseries were owing, and on the removal of this, the source of their feuds appeared to vanish. Hahnemann, as might be expected, considers this as one of the most potent medicines for the cure of jealousy, since it is so effective in causing it.
The leaves of the three plants lately noticed—namely, thorn-apple or stramonium, belladonna, and henbane—are made up in the form of cigarettes; and the first of these also as cigars, to be smoked by asthmatic persons, for their soothing and sedative effects. These are all made and consumed extensively on the continent, and may be procured in many parts of London. They have also been recommended to those not asthmatical, as pleasant, harmless, and containing all the narcotising influences of a good cigar. They may be considered as truly narcotic substitutes for tobacco; but at the present rate at which they are sold, although not subject to either customs or excise, there is but little fear of their interfering prejudicially with the sale of the genuine article. In face of the facts already detailed, a good amount of courage seems necessary to make the attempt, lest they should prove cumulative in their action. Dr. Christison says, when writing of these narcotics, “The action of such poisons is not always, however, entirely thrown away; they still produce some immediate effect; and further, by being frequently taken, they may slowly bring on certain diseases, or engender a predisposition to disease. A very singular exception to this rule prevails in the instance of tobacco, which, under the influence of habit, may be smoked daily to a considerable amount, and, so far as appears, without any cumulative effect on the constitution, like that of opium-eating or drinking spirits.”