has more recently treated several
inveterate cases of retention of urine on the same plan and with similar
effects, and adds his testimony to its efficacy in tetanus, trismus, and
other spasmodic affections. Of its power to relieve spasm there can be
no doubt. What has been related of its sedative qualities, is abundantly
sufficient to establish that fact. Cramps, convulsions, and even the
vital principle itself, give way before the exhibition of this deadly
narcotic. Hence, to its power of prostrating the muscular energy, it
owes its efficacy in preventing retention of urine.

We have now gone through with an examination of the medicinal properties
of tobacco, and have arrived at the following conclusion, viz. that few
substances are capable of exerting effects so sudden and destructive, as
this poisonous plant. Prick the skin of mouse with a needle, the point
of which has been dipped in its essential oil, and immediately it swells
and dies. Introduce a piece of common "twist," as large as a kidney
bean, into the mouth of a robust man, unaccustomed to this weed, and
soon he is affected with fainting, vertigo, nausea, vomiting, and loss
of vision. At length the surface becomes deadly pale, the cold sweat
gathers thick upon his brow, the pulse flutters or ceases to beat, a
universal tremor comes on, with slight spasms and _other_ symptoms of
dissolution. As an emetic, few articles can compare with it for the
promptness and efficiency of its operation; at the same time there are
none which produce such universal debility. As a cathartic, it produces
immediate and copious evacuations, with great prostration of strength;
but its dose can with difficulty be regulated.

If such be a fair statement of its effects on the human system; if it
requires all the skill of the most experienced practitioner to guard
against those sudden depressions which uniformly follow its use, when
administered with the utmost circumspection; and if, with all this
caution, its operation is still followed by the most alarming, and even
fatal consequences--what shall we say of those who habitually subject
their constitutions to the destructive influence of this worse than
"Bohan Upas?"

To an individual unacquainted with the fact, it would seem incredible
that a weed, possessed of properties so poisonous, should ever have been
sought as an article of luxury. Yet it has not only been sought, but
even credulity startles at the extent to which it has b