It would be almost endless to recite all the instances to be met with upon this head. The German Ephemerides, the Commercium Literarium, and other periodical works, furnish us with farther proofs of the deadly quality of the Bella-donna; and they are unhappily corroborated by more recent instances in modern authors. The Gentleman’s Magazine[20], Mr. Miller in his Gardeners Dictionary, and Dr. Hill in his British Herbal[21], exhibit to us several melancholy cases of this kind. The effects of this plant have been so extraordinary, that several distinct treatises have been published professedly upon it. The most remarkable of these is that of J.M. Faber’s, printed at Augsburg in 1677, under the following title; _Strychnomania explicans Strychni manici antiquorum, vel Solani furiosi recentiorum historiam_. In this tract the author has collected a number of cases from various hands, concerning the poisonous quality of the plant in question. In the year 1714. C. Sicelius published a treatise upon this plant, under the title of _Diatribe de Bella-donna. Jenæ_. 8vo. +MEDICAL HISTORY+. Who it was, that was bold enough to venture first upon the internal use of this plant as a medicine, I cannot say; chance very probably led to it, as in many other cases. In the mean time, there is reason to believe, that it is not altogether a modern practice. One would be led to think, by the accounts given us in Matthiolus and Bodæus, that in their days its operation was very well known; and that they knew how to dose it very exactly, since they give us an account of tricks being played with it, by infusing the quantity of a scruple of the root in wine, and intoxicating people therewith. The former of these authors relates, that the distilled water from this plant, in a dose of about two or three spoonfuls, was exhibited by some people in inflammations of the viscera; and, he observes, with good success. Parkinson seems to have transcribed this account, respecting this use of it; but neither of them speak of it from their own knowlege. It may be questioned, however, whether this could act otherwise than as mere water; since the principles with which this plant is endued, do not seem capable (if one may judge from its sensible qualities and effects upon those who have taken it) of rising in a still.