Important: Safety Warning
This page gives first-aid or emergency advice that predates modern medicine and can make an emergency worse. Do not follow it. In any medical emergency, call emergency services and follow current first-aid guidance.
In addition, this page prescribes plants as medicine according to pre-modern medical theory. Several of the plants named are toxic, correct identification is difficult, and the doses given have no scientific basis. Do not ingest or apply any preparation described here.
In addition, this page presents medical treatment from an era before modern medicine. The remedies described are ineffective against the conditions named, and some of the ingredients or doses are harmful. Do not use them to treat any illness; consult a qualified medical professional.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
Deadly Nightshade
a plant botanically known as belladonna, yielding an extract of much utility in ophthalmic investigation. The "beauty" implied by the name is in the berries, which are shining black, but are poisonous. The best known antidote to them is vinegar.
The leaves of the plant are useful as a medicine, being given in intermittent fevers, palsy, pertussis, amaurosis, cachexia, epilepsy, and ticdouloureux. A remedy much used in homœopathic pharmacy. The name is also given to a subdivision of the genus Amaryllis, containfound in the West Indies. ing the belladonna lily, a fine flower