129. _In Asthma_, the dried leaves and stem cut small and smoked, like tobacco, in a pipe, afford in many cases great relief. In some the benefit is immediate and striking, in others it has little effect, and in a few it acts injuriously; its value in any case can only be ascertained by personal experiment, but it is worth a trial in all cases. When the leaves fail, the dried seeds, which are thought to be more powerful, may be tried. The earlier in the attack it is employed the greater are the chances of success; it has little effect when the attack has lasted for some hours. For a person subject to asthma, a good plan is to adopt the habit of smoking a pipe of it the last thing at night, whether an attack is threatening or not; at any rate, he should keep a pipe of it already filled, with the means of lighting it, by his bedside, so that, immediately on an attack commencing, he may use it. From ten to twenty grains of the dried plant is sufficient to commence with; it may subsequently be increased to thirty grains, but in all cases it should be immediately discontinued if it produces giddiness, a feeling of sickness, or any other unpleasant symptom. Serious, and even fatal, consequences have followed its incautious use, hence too much care cannot be exercised in its employment. In _Chronic Coughs_, where the cough comes on in violent paroxysms, and is hard and dry, with scanty expectoration, smoking Datura (_ante_) proves beneficial. 130. _For Rheumatic Swellings of the Joints_, _Lumbago_, _Painful Tumours_, _Nodes_, _&c._, Datura, locally applied, often proves most serviceable in relieving pain. There are four modes, in either of which it may be advantageously employed: 1. POULTICE, made by bruising the fresh leaves into a pulp, and mixing them, with the aid of a little water, with an equal weight of rice flour, to the consistence of a poultice. 2. EPITHEM; which consists of steeping a few entire leaves in arrack or other spirit, and placing them, whilst wet, over the seat of pain, and securing them in that position by a bandage. 3. FOMENTATION; made by infusing the leaves in boiling water, in the proportion of one ounce to each pint of fluid, and applying as directed in paragraph 393. 4. LINIMENT; prepared by macerating, for seven days, one ounce of the bruised seeds in a pint of Sesamum or other bland oil, and straining. In addition to the above-named affections, these preparations, applied to the loins, are useful in relieving _the pain attendant on painful or difficult Menstruation_, and in some _painful affections of the Uterus_; in the latter, they may more advantageously be placed over the lower part of the abdomen. They also prove beneficial in relieving _Neuralgic pains, especially of the Face_; for this the liniment is best adapted, well rubbed in over the seat of pain, and along the space immediately in front of the ear, or rather, in the narrow space between the ear and the jaw.