" "... every one has a Chopchin and Dotchin to cut and weigh silver."—Ibid. 141.
1748.—"These scales are made after the manner of the Roman balance, or our English Stilliards, called by the Chinese Litang, and by us Dot-chin."—A Voyage to the E. Indies in 1747 and 1748, &c., London, 1762, p. 324. The same book has, in a short vocabulary, at p. 265, "English scales or dodgeons ... Chinese Litang."
DATURA, s. This Latin-like name is really Skt. dhattūra, and so has passed into the derived vernaculars. The widely-spread Datura Stramonium, or Thorn-apple, is well known over Europe, but is not regarded as indigenous to India; though it appears to be wild in the Himālaya from Kashmīr to Sikkim. The Indian species, from which our generic name has been borrowed, is Datura alba, Nees (see Hanbury and Flückiger, 415) (D. fastuosa, L.). Garcia de Orta mentions the common use of this by thieves in India. Its effect on the victim was to produce temporary alienation of mind, and violent laughter, permitting the thief to act unopposed. He describes his own practice in dealing with such cases, which he had always found successful. Datura was also often given as a practical joke, whence the Portuguese called it Burladora ('Joker'). De Orta strongly disapproves of such pranks. The criminal use of datura by a class of Thugs is rife in our own time. One of the present writers has judicially convicted many. Coolies returning with fortunes from the colonies often become the victims of such crimes. [See details in Chevers, Ind. Med. Jurispr. 179 seqq.]
1563.—"Maidservant. A black woman of the house has been giving datura to my mistress; she stole the keys, and the jewels that my mistress had on her neck and in her jewel box, and has made off with a black man. It would be a kindness to come to her help."—Garcia, Colloquios, f. 83.
1578.—"They call this plant in the Malabar tongue unmata caya [ummata-kāya] ... in Canarese Datyro...."—Acosta, 87.
c. 1580.—"Nascitur et ... Datura Indorum, quarum ex seminibus Latrones bellaria parant, quae in caravanis mercatoribus exhibentes largumque somnum, profundumque inducentes aurum gemmasque surripiunt et abeunt."—Prosper Alpinus, Pt. I. 190-1.
1598.—"They name [have] likewise an hearbe called Deutroa, which beareth a seede, whereof bruising out the sap, they put it into a cup, or other vessell, and give it to their husbands, eyther in meate or drinke, and presently therewith the Man is as though hee were half out of his wits."—Linschoten, 60; [Hak. Soc. i. 209].
1608-10.—"Mais ainsi de mesme les femmes quand elles sçauent que leurs maris en entretiennent quelqu'autre, elles s'en desfont par poison ou autrement, et se seruent fort à cela de la semence de Datura, qui est d'vne estrange vertu. Ce Datura ou Duroa, espece de Stramonium, est vne plante grande et haute qui porte des fleurs blanches en Campane, comme le Cisampelo, mais plus grande."—Mocquet, Voyages, 312.
[1610.—"In other parts of the Indies it is called Dutroa."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. ii. 114.
[1621.—"Garcias ab Horto ... makes mention of an hearb called Datura, which, if it be eaten, for 24 hours following, takes away all sense of grief, makes them incline to laughter and mirth."—Burton, Anatomy of Mel., Pt. 2, Sec. 5 Mem. I. Subs. 5.]