An Account of Symptoms Arising from Eating the Seeds of Henbane, with Their Cure, &c. and Some Occasional Remarks, by Sir Hans Sloane, Bart. P. S. R.

I. An Account of Symptoms arising from eating the Seeds of Henbane, with their Cure, &c. and some occasional Remarks, by Sir Hans Sloane, Bart. P. S. R. In the Year 1729, a Person came to consult me on an Accident, that befell four of his Children, aged from four Years and a half, to thirteen Years and a half, upon eating some Seeds they had gathered in the Fields, near Pancras-Church, which they mistook for Philberts. He brought one of the Capsules with him: I instantly knew it to be that of the Hyoscyamus niger, vel vulgaris, C. B. (or the common Henbane) which bears some gross Resemblance to the Husk of a Philbert; and the Seeds are like those of the Poppy. The Symptoms that appear'd in all the Four were, great Thirst, Swimings of the Head, Dimness of Sight, Ravings, and profound Sleep; which last, in one of them, continued two Days and Nights. I order'd them all to be bled, blister'd in several Places, and afterwards purged with a Medicine composed of Eleo. lenitiv. Ol. amygd. dulc. flor. Sulph. & Syr. flor. persicor. which operated both by Vomit and Stool: And by this Method they perfectly recovered. The Delirium occasioned by these Seeds differs from the common, and in some Measure agrees with that produced by the Dutroa, a Species of Stramonium; and by the Bangue of East-India, a sort of Hemp: And they are all different from that kind of Disorder caused by the rubbing with a certain Ointment made use of by Witches (according to Lacuna, in his Version and Comments upon Dioscorides) the Effect of which (as he was told) is to throw the Persons into deep Sleep, and make them dream so strongly of being carried in the Air to distant Places, and there meeting with others of their diabolical Fraternity; that when they awake they actually believe, and have confess'd, that they have performed such extravagant Actions. On this Occasion, I beg leave to give an Instance of the great Virtues of Henbane-Seeds in the Tooth-ach. Some Years ago, a Person of Quality tormented with this racking Pain, had an Empyrick recommended to him; his Anguish obliging him to submit to any Method of procuring Ease: The Quack convey'd the Smoke of burning Henbane-Seeds, by means of a Funnel, into the hollow Tooth, and thereby removed the Pain: But at the same time there dropped some Maggots from the Tooth (as he pretended) into a Pail of Water placed underneath for that purpose; which was very surprizing to the Beholders. Being told the Story, I procured one of the Maggots, and sent it wrapt up in Silk to Mr. Leeuwenhoek, at Delft in Holland, where it arrived safe and alive. Upon Examination, he found it to be entirely like those bred in ordinary rotten Cheese: Wherefore, he got some of these latter, and carefully fed them, and that I had sent, on the same Cheese, and they were all, according to the usual Methods of Nature turn'd into small Scarabæi; so that there appeared not the least Difference between them either when Maggots or Scarabæi, both being return'd me from Holland. Upon the whole, though the Smoke of the Henbane-Seeds cured the Tooth-ach, 'tis highly probable the Maggots had been conveyed thither, and let drop into the Water by some slight of Hand; seeing, by means of some such unjust Dexterity, Empyrics daily acquire Reputation from a Medicine, which from the Prescription of an honest Physician would be taken little Notice of. II. An Abstract of the Meteorological Diaries, communicated to the Royal Society, with Remarks upon them. By Wm. Derham, D.D. Canon of Windsor, and F.R.S. [Part I. Vide Transact. No. 423.] PART II. Containing Meteorological Observations made at Petersburgh, §1724, 1725. | Lundin in Sweden, §1724. A Journal of Meteorological Observations made at Petersburgh, By the Rev. Mr. Tho. Consett, from Nov. 24, 1724, to June 23, 1725, abstracted for the Use of the Royal Society. By Wm. Derham, F.R.S. This Journal contains Observations, three times in the Day, of the Barometer, the Winds and their Strength, the Weather, and (after April 15) of the Thermometer. Which Observations (although very curious and useful) yet being too long, would be tedious