BELLADON′NA

(-dŏn′ă), [It., Sp., Port.; Eng., L., Ger.; [141] B. P.] Syn. Dead′ly night′shade , Dwale ; Belled a me , Bell a donne , ., Fr.; Tödtlicher Nachtschatten , Tollkersche , Toll kraut , Wolfs kirs che , ., Ger.; At′ropa letha′lis *, Sola′num furio′sum *, S. letha′le *, S. mania′cum *, S. melanocer′asus †, ., L., Bot. var. Literally, fair lady; in materia medic a, botany, . , the usual name (adopted from the Ital.) of at′ropa belladonn′a (Linn.), an indigenous, poisonous, perennial, herbaceous plant, of the nat. ord. Solanæ (DC); Solanaceæ, Endl., (Lind.). It flowers in June and July, and its drooping, purple blo oms are common ornaments of our hedges and wastes where the soil is calcareous. It is supposed to be the ‘insane root’ of Shakespeare. [142] [141] As a borrowed word. [142] ‘Macbeth,’ Act I, Scene 3. The parts of this plant used in medicine and pharmacy are the “fresh leaves and branches to which they are attached; also the leaves separate from the branches, carefully dried, of atropa belladonna ; gathered, when the fruit has begun to form, from wild or cultivated plants in Britain” (B. P.). Prop., Uses, . Every part of this plant contains ATRO′PIA , and is consequently highly poisonous. Every part, except the berries, is fœtid when bruised, and of “a dark and lurid aspect, indicative of its deadly narcotic quality.” [143] Its berries, which are of a glo y violet-black, and of the size of a small cherry, are sweet-tasted, and not at all nauseous. Children and tired travellers and soldiers, allured by their beauty and the absence of disagreeable flavour, have frequently been induced to eat them; but in all cases poisoning, often fatal, has followed the indulgence. [144] Belladonna is, however, in qualified hands a safe and most valuable medicine. Its chief use is as an anodyne, antispasmodic, sedative, and discutient, and particularly to diminish sensibility and allay pain and nervous irritation in a variety of diseases—neuralgia, arthritic and migratory rheumatic pains, painful ulcers, cancer, spasmodic rigidity, strictures, and contractions (especially of the bladder and uterus), angina pectoris, iritis, epilepsy, chorea, hooping-cough, hysteria, mania, fevers, phthisis, asthma, .; also as a prophylactic of scarlet-fever, [145] hydrophobia, and salivation, as a resolvent in enlarged and indurated glands (particularly when painful), as an agent to produce dilation of the pupil during surgical examinations and operations, ., . It is employed both internally and externally, and in various forms, as is noticed under its ‘preparations’ elsewhere. Dose. Of the powder, 1 ⁄ 2 to 1 gr. twice a day, gradually and cautiously increased until dryne of the throat or dilation of the pupil occurs, or the head is affected. [143] Pereira, 4th ed., vol. ii, 545. [144] One hundred and fifty French soldiers were thus poisoned at Pirna, near Dresden. (Orfila, ‘Tox. Gén.’) [145] Of 2027 persons who took it, and were exposed to the contagion of scarlet fever, 1948 escaped. (Bayle, ‘Bibl. Thérap.,’ t. ii. p. 504.) Of 1200 soldiers who took it only 12 became affected. (Oppenheim, ‘Lond. Med. Gaz,’ vol. xiii, 814.) In this country, however, except among homœopaths, it has not found much favour as a prophylactic. Pois., . Belladonna and its preparations are poisonous to all animals, but very much more so to the carnivora than to the herbivora. It also acts as a poison on vegetables. Treatm. Ant., . These may be the same as those employed in poisoning by aconite, atropia, and opium. The stomach must be cleared as soon as po ible, followed by active purgation. Unfortunately emetics have scarcely any action, and, therefore, must be given in large doses, a isted by tickling the fauces, . If copious vomiting does not rapidly follow, the stomach-pump may be had recourse to. When the poison has been removed from the stomach, copious and continued draughts of astringent vegetable solutions (weak decoction of galls or oak-bark, or strong coffee or green-tea), should be persisted in for some time; followed by like draughts of water soured with any mild vegetable acid (as vinegar, lemon-juice, citric or tartaric acid, .) Detec. The contents of the stomach or vomited matter may be searched for the berries, leaves, seed, or portions of the root; all of which are easily recognisable. The usual physiological and chemical tests of atropia may also be applied to these and to the organic liquids supposed to contain the poison. See Alkaloid , Atropia , Extracts , Ointments , Tinctures , Vegetable Juices , .