Henbane: Source of Sedative Drugs.
In the 19th Century Henbane was valuable sedative
Henbane.
Hyoscyamus niger is a plant of the natural order solanacea, which grows wild in Europe and if often, cultivated in England.
The Egyptian henbane belongs to another species, hyoscamus.
The dried leaves yield the alkaloid hyoscyamine and a small amount of atropine and hyoscine.
The seeds also contain hyoscyamine and a little hyoscine.
Hyoscyamine has the same stimulant action on the brain as atromine; the sedative effect formally described being due to a mixturehyoscine.
The action on the peripheral nerves is like that of atropine, but is twice as strong.
It depresses secretary nerve endings, arresting the flow of saliva, bronchial mucus, sweat and milk for breast-feeding.
It paralyses the vagus nerve to the heart and so causes a more rapid action.
It also depresses the termination of the third nerve, producing dilation of the pupil and paralysis of accommodation.
It relaxes smooth muscle in many parts of the body, such as the bile ducts, ureters, bronchi and intestines.
Preparations of hydrocyamus are used chiefly for asthma, biliary and ureteric colic, and for the irritable bladder of cystitis, although it might be used with advantage for many other conditions in which atropine is generally prescribed.
It is a favorite ingredient in pills, preventing griping without interfering with normal peristalsis.
The preparations are extract of hyoscymus, B.P., and green extract of hydroscyamus.