In a medical view, coffee is said to be of use in assisting digestion, promoting the natural secretions, and preventing or removing a disposition to drowsiness. It has been found highly beneficial in relieving some cases of severe head-ach. The outer pulpy part of the berry, and the inner membrane, which immediately invests the seeds, are used by the Arabians, and of these the former is much esteemed, and constitutes what is called _coffee à la sultane_. 64. _STRAMONIUM, or THORN-APPLE_ (Datura stramonium), _is an annual plant, with thick round stalks, somewhat triangular leaves, jagged or toothed at the edges, large white and funnel-shaped flowers, and seed vessels large and beset with spines._ Although originally a native of America, stramonium is now a frequent weed on dunghills, and in cultivated ground of our own country; and, when once introduced into a garden, it is difficult to be eradicated. Its smell is exceedingly unpleasant, and its qualities are so pernicious, when taken internally, as to occasion giddiness, torpor, and sometimes even death. The seeds are particularly injurious. Notwithstanding this, the inspissated or dried juice of the leaves has been considered a valuable remedy in epileptic and other convulsive disorders. An ointment prepared from them affords relief in external inflammations; and smoking the dried leaves has lately been recommended in asthmatic complaints. The soporiferous and intoxicating qualities of stramonium are well known in eastern countries, and have often occasioned the plant to be employed for very improper uses. 65. _TOBACCO, in the state that we see it, is a narcotic drug formed from the dried leaves of an annual plant_ (Nicotiana tabacum, Fig. 11) _that is principally cultivated in North America,_ _The stalk of the tobacco plant is erect, strong, round, and hardy. The leaves are large, oblong, pointed, clammy, and of pale green colour. The flowers, which terminate the stem and branches in loose clusters, are of reddish colour, and funnel shaped, with a long hairy tube; and the seed vessel is oval, and divided into two cells, that contain many rounded seeds._