Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/490

458&#93; *&] I [ E N one broo 1 is grown up, another 1 may be placed un- jder him, ?n the. manner above dir I ■ and 'n p will treat diem with the same tenderness as the real pa- rent. i ti'.X-F) ANE, txHyoscyamus, L. a genus of plants comprising nine -species, one of which is a na ive of Britain, namely, the niger, orCom- B&OR Hen-bane. It abounds in villages, road-sides, and among rubbish ■, and Rofwersin the month of July. Neither horses, cows, r sheep, will touch this plant, though the animals last ru m- tioned are supposed to eat it when ig : — ii is not relished by goats. The seeds, leaves, and roots of tlie common hen-bane, taken in- ternally, are reputed to be poison- ous ; and numerous instances have been recorded of their virulent ef- teets. The general consequences ating diem are, convulsions, madness., arid death; though Dr. Smith states that lie his eaten die sink with impunity. The leaves, altered about a house, are said to chive away mice and rats : when bruised, they emit an odour re- sembling lliat of tobacco, and are so powerfully narcotic, that their union occasions the l.ead-aeh and giddiness. The whole plant is fatal to poultry ; it intoxicates hogs ; 'out cows, horses, dogs, and goats, are able to bear a tolerable portion before they are affected. — Id superstitious ages, the famous sorcerer's ointment was prepared from the leaves of the hen-bane, which produced a kind of delirious inspiration, on ■ anointed with this I Malignant per- sons, todera times, appear to be well acquainted with thi pro- of the hen-bane: MEN and the iniquities lately practised in a village near Newport, Salop, with a preparation of this power- ful plant, almost exceed belief; especially as they were directed by one branch of a numerous family against another, not even except- ing infants. When suspicions arose against those miscreants who were guilty of secretly mixing tnis baneful vegetable with al,> and beer, the}' had the inhuman auda- city to introduce the poison be- tween thetsoles oi tin-: shoes ; and af- ter these were secured, between the seams of shirts that were suspend- ed on the hedge. — We have men- toned these flagrant instances of depravitv, in order to caution the credulous reader, and to shew that the extraordinary effects of this poi- sonous application arise from natural causes, and ought not to be ascrib- ed to witchcraft, as was unfortu- nately the case in Shropshire, till the whole mystery was satisfacto- rily explained. The writer of this article, having contributed to de- b i i the delusion, thinks it his duty to wain the public against certain grave and whimsical matrons, as well as old men lurking about country places, who, under the pretence of fortune-telling, and amusing the harmless listeners with spell-craft, cunningly enter into the secret history of different families, avail themselves of the most powerful herbs, and thus be- come subservient to the most ne- farious purposes, Notwithstanding these virulent properties, the: hen-bane has lately been employed with considerable Success in the most obstinate dis- eases, such as epilepsy, internal spasms, madness and melancholy ; though we trust that no circumspect persqn will ever resort to its use,, without