640. DIGITALIS purpurea. FOXGLOVE.--A few months ago, a child was ill of a pulmonary complaint, and the apothecary had desired the nurse to procure a small quantity of Coltsfoot and make it a little tea; and accordingly the good woman went to a shop in London, where she procured, as she supposed, three pennyworth of that herb, and made a decoction, of which she gave the patient a tea-cupful; a few minutes after which she found symptoms of convulsions make their appearance, and sent for the apothecary: but who, unfortunately, was so totally ignorant of botany as not to know the plant, but supposing it to be Coltsfoot, after the infant died, took his leave, without ay remark further, than that the disorder which occasioned its death had arisen from some accidental and unusual cause. The nurse, however, did not feel perfectly satisfied of this fact, and carried the remainder of the herb to Apothecaries-Hall; and having applied there for information, was referred to Mr. Leffler, a gentleman who had from his botanical researches that season obtained the Sloanean prize; who told her the mistake. He also went and saw the body, and investigated the whole case in a way that has done that young gentleman great credit; and from him I have been favoured with this account. Had the medical attendant but known the difference between the two plants when he was called in first, there was a chance of the child being saved to its distressed parents. And here was certainly a striking instance of medical men neglecting so far the study of botany, as not to know one of the most useful as well as one of the most dangerous plants of the present Pharmacopoeia. 641. HELLEBORUS foetidus. BEARSFOOT.--The country-people are in the habit of chopping up the leaves of this plant and giving it to children for removing worms; but it is a dangerous medicine, and should be made use of with great caution. It is also recommended as a medicine for the same purpose in horses. As much of the chopped leaves as will lie on a crown-piece, given amongst a feed of corn for three days, and remitted three days, and repeated thus for nine doses, has been known to remove this disease. "I heard a melancholy story of a mother in this city; viz. that a Country Colleagh gave some of this plant to her two sons, one of six, the other of four years of age, to kill worms; and that before four in the afternoon they were both corpses."-Dr. Threlkeld, in a short account of the plants in the neighbourhood of Dublin. 642. JUNIPERUS Salvina. SAVINE.--The expressed juice of this plant is very poisonous, and often known to produce the most violent effects. It is sometimes used by persons for expelling worms in children, but should be used with great caution; for, if the quantity taken into the stomach is more than it can digest, all the dreadful effects of the poisons of this class are certain to be the immediate consequence.