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TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

MEDICO-BOTANICAL SOCIETY

OF

LONDON,

FOR 1832 AND 1833.

TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

MEDICO-BOTANICAL SOCIETY

LONDON,

LONDON:

PRINTED BY J. AND C, ADLARD, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE,

1834.

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CONTENTS.

An Essay on the Use of Holly and Illicine in the Cure of

Intermittent Fevers. By L. F. E. Rousseau, m. pv. &c. | to 16
On the Medicinal Properties of the Piscidia Erythrina, or

Jamaica Logwood. By Witt1am Hamitton, m.B. &c. 17 to 22
Observations on some Medicinal Products of Australian

Plants. By Mr. Mupie : ; 23 to 25
A Dissertation on some Ancient Plants of Egypt. By

M. Bonastre, Corresponding Member of the Medico-

Botanical Society of London . ; 26 to 31
Some Account of the Cheritmanos of Peru, and of the

Medicines sold by them. By Witt. Boxtaert, Esq.

Corresponding Member of the Medico-Botanical

Society of London 5 32 to 35
Remarks on the Juribali, or Eurabili, a Febrifuge Bark-

tree of Pomeroon. By Joun Hancock, M.v. Fellow

of this Society, &c. . 36 to 42
Inaugural Address, delivered at a Mosting of the Medico-

Botanical Society of London. By Girserr T.

Burwerrt, Professor of Botany to the Society, &c. 43 to 66

Some Account of the Febrifuge Bark of a Tree called El
Malambo, of South America. By Wm». Hamitroy,
M.D. : ; , : , 67 to 72
On the Use of the Essential Oil of Lemons in various
Inflammations of the Eye, with Cases. By J. Foore,
jun. Esq. c.s. a, &e. : . 73 to 82
Observations on some of the Medical Plants mentioned
by Shakspeare. Commun cated by Samue: Roorsey,

Esq. Corresponding Member of the Medico-Botanical
Society , : : ; 83 to 96

TRANSACTIONS

MEDICO-BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

HOLLY AND ILICINE.

Aw Essay on tue Use or Hotty anp [xicine in THe Cure or
Intermirrent Fevers, (for which the Silver Medal of the
Session 1832 was awarded.) By L. F. E. Rousseau, m.p.,
Chef des Travaux Anatomiques au Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle
de Paris, Membre de plusieurs Societes savantes, nationales et
étrangéres, &c.

{Read at a general Meeting of the Fellows, 12th June, 1832; Earl Staxnops, President, in
the chair. Translated and condensed by Geonae CLeNnvInNninG, Esq., Secretary.]
Tue Medico-Botanical Society of London having proposed
to award a silver medal to whomsoever should make known
“the medicinal qualities and uses of any indigenous plants
the properties of which are not yet sufficiently acknowledged,
or any new uses and applications of other indigenous plants
which may have been unduly neglected or forgotten,” I pur-
pose presenting for the concours proposed by that very learned
Society the accompanying paper, exemplifying the great ad-
vantages I have reaped from the use of the leaves of the
common holly (Ilex x Guifotium) in the treatment of intermit-

tent fever, &c.

The unjust neglect which this indigenous shrub has expe-
rienced by its omission in the modern materia medice has for
many years engaged my attention. 1 have also solicited the
co-operation of many of my colleagues, whose conclusive ob-
servations bear testimony to the facts which I have the honour
to present, in order to obtain a recompence which it is more
easy anxiously to desire than actually to gain.

B

2 Dr. Rousseau on the

Of the Virtue of the Leaves of the Holly (Ilex Aquifolium) in the
Treatment of Intermittent Fever.

«* Gratia sic minimo magna labore venit.”

I am indebied to numerous experiments, and to their suc-
cessful results, for the advantage of proposing the holly as a
febrifuge and succedaneum for cinchona bark.

The experience of twenty years has convinced me of the
virtue of this medicine, which, administered by enlightened
and intelligent men, has fulfilled all the conditions required
of it to supersede the Peruvian bark in the treatment of
intermittent fever.

Although it is one alone that here principally concerns us,
it may not be impertinent to state that there are at least
twenty-five species of holly growing in the four divisions of
our globe, which form a very numerous genus: however, we
cannot assign to any of these the febrifuge properties which
we have observed in the indigenous holly, which grows
in France and in all parts of Europe: for this reason, the
species in question is the only one which has been submitted
to experiment by me.

[The author here gives at some length the botanical and physi-
cal characters and history of the Ilex Aquifolium, which, as they
differ not materially from accounts already published, and fami-
liarly known to almost every one, it has been deemed advisable to
omit these paragraphs in the translation, and to proceed at once
to the]

Chemical analysis. We are indebted to M. LassatacE,
a zealous friend of science, for the first analysis which he
undertook to discover the composition of the leaves of the
holly. This analysis furnished him, viz. 1, wax; 2, chloro-
phylle, (green matter of the leaves;) 3, a bitter matter, which
is neutral, non-crystallizable, soluble in alcohol, and unde-
composable by the acids and alkalies; 4, a yellow colouring
matter; 5, gum; 6, acetate of potass; 7, muriate of potass
and lime; 8, supermalate of lime; 9, sulphate and phosphate
of lime; 10, fibre of the wood (lignin),

The febrifuge principle appearing to me to reside in the
bitter matter, it was necessary, in order to ascertain its pre-
sence, to have recourse to new processes. M. DELEscHAMPs,
an able chemist, has obtained the following results:

First process. A kilogramme of the leaves of the holly,
previously dried and reduced to powder, was twice boiled,
each time in five kilogrammes of water, during two hours, in
a Papin’s digester, to facilitate the dissolving of the bitter
principle, by increasing the temperature. After the second

Holly and Ilicine. 5

boiling, the residue of the powder being deprived of all taste,
the liquids were mixed, filtered, and evaporated to three-
fourths. On the addition of a solution of subacetate of
potass, (which was added in excess,) the liquid assumed a
thick viscous appearance. A solution of two ounces of sub-
carbonate of potass being then added, it appeared more
limpid on being well stirred: this not only destroyed the vis-
cosity which impeded the filtration, but threw down the sub-
acetate of lead in excess. After having refiltered, half an
ounce of dilute sulphuric acid was added, which caused a
white precipitate. The liquid being acid, was saturated with
carbonate of lime, and, being again filtered, it was evapo-
rated to the consistence of an extract, which possessed all
the bitter taste of the plant. I treated this matter with alco-
hol of 40°, and decanted off the clear portion, and by eva-
poration obtained a brown substance, attracting moisture
very rapidly, having a very bitter taste, and rather an agree-
able odour. I dried this product, and procured it in shining
lamine. I then treated that portion of the extract which
was not dissolved by alcohol at 40°, with alcohol at 36°, and
obtained by the same means a product, which only differed
from the first by being of a deeper yellow colour.

Second process. The product of the decoction evapo-
rated to the consistence of an extract, was treated with alco-
hol at 36°, and the spirit renewed until nothing further could
be dissolved. ‘The liquids were all then mixed and evapo-
rated, and the product procured dried, and then put into
water at the temperature of 40°. After half an hour, the
liquid was filtered, and precipitated by a solution of subace-
tate of lead, the excess of which was thrown down by sul-
phuretted hydrogen. It was again filtered, and evaporated
in a porcelain vessel to the consistence of an extract, which
was treated with alcohol at the temperature of 36° (therm.
Reaum.), and afterwards dried as in the first process.

This second process being more expensive, and less bitter
principle being obtained than by the first, it is therefore not
to be commended,

Third process. ‘This consists in making an alcoholic ex-
tract of the leaves, which should be mixed with water, and
afterwards treated with subacetate of lead, sulphuric acid,
and carbonate of lime; and alcohol should then be added,
and the product, when filtered, evaporated, and dried, gives
a substance which presents the following characters, when
submitted to the following different tests: ‘The acids do not
decompose it, unless the temperature be raised; it then as-
sumes a black appearance, iad disengages an empyreumatic

4

A Dr. Rousseau on the

odour. The alkalies do not act upon it; chlorine neither
changes its colour, nor its chemical nor medical properties. It
is precipitated neither by the nitrate of silver, hydrochlorate
of platinum, acetate of potass, nor by the oxalates of potass
and ammonia. It is insolub!e in ether; soluble in alcohol at
40°, equally so in alcohol at 36°, and even in warm water.
This product, which | have named Itictve, is of a brown
colour; rapidly absorbs moisture, which probably renders it
non-crystallizable: heated in a platinum crucible, the ilicine
gives carbon, and betrays the presence of an alkali, by re-
storing the blue colour of litmus paper reddened by an acid:
this alkali proceeds from a salt, having potass for its base.

Results.
2 Ibs. of dried leaves give of dry extract, 3v., gy. iv.
Bilbs. s-\) «. oo), « GIVE OL ANCines, <1) .6 amie
ADE. ene. is). +... Jose. by drying, I lb. ¢ive
2 Ibs. of fresh leaves give of dry extract, Ziij. 5iv. gr. xxiv.

Medical Properties.

Those authors who have spoken of the holly consider it as
possessing emollient, resolving, diuretic, and expectorant
properties: few consider it as a febrifuge. Before it was
employed internally, many remarked that the bruised and
putrefied bark yielded a viscous substance called birdlime,
and which was applied externally as a cataplasm, supposing
it to have resolving or maturative qualities: with this idea,
M. Cuomet employed it to alleviate the pain of gout.

The root, according to many, has the same emollient and
resolving properties as the bark. ‘The decoction of the
leaves, or their powder, has been praised in catarrh, pleurisy,
colic, and the diseases of the urinary organs. ‘The great
Hater has recommended the juice of the leaves in icterus;
and we shall perceive, in many of the observations which
follow, that the alvine evacuations which were produced in
some patients depended on its action on the liver, as Haller
suspected when recommending it in jaundice.

I remarked, that few physicians have regarded it as a fe-
brifuge, which admits of a simple explanation; as DuraNnDE
and Rett are the only persons who have sought after a new
therapeutical remedy for fevers. ‘Those who followed them
have only repeated what they had already stated, and were
content to approve of a remedy whose uses still lay open to
further investigation.

We should then inquire why this medicine has fallen into
disuse, as Reil, in his work, asserts that he employed the

Holly and Ilicine. 5

decoction and extract of the leaves of the holly frequently;
and always observed that these preparations caused appetite,
facilitated all the secretions and excretions, and that their
most constant effect was that of increasing the transpiration
of the skin. We also ask, why repeated experiments have
not been made with it in cases of intermittent fever, as Reil
also affirms that he has employed the holly successfully in
epidemic intermittent fever; and he adds, that, after those
fevers resisted the use of Peruvian bark, they yielded to that
of this indigenous plant. We read in the “ Botanique de
Lyon,” that the dried leaves of the holly, reduced to powder,
given in the dose of one drachm in a glass of water, one hour
before the paroxysm, frequently cut short the fever.

But all these observations, as well as those of Vituars,
Murray, &c., seem to have been insufficient to draw from
oblivion this medicine, to which | have devoted my especial
attention. My inquiries being directed in preference to the
febrifuge qualities of the leaves, I omit speaking of the trials
made with the berries.

I am now able to present the result of my experiments,
which, being verified by enlightened and impartial physi-
cians, demonstrate the great advantages of this medicine as
a substitute for Peruvian bark; but, before doing so, it is
necessary to consider the best mode of its administration.

The leaves of the holly may be administered in different
ways: in decoction, in substance, in extract, as bitter prin-
ciple called ilicine, and in enemata.

1. The decoction is prepared by boiling half an ounce of
the freshly gathered or dried leaves in eight or ten ounces of
water, which is to be boiled down to one half. ‘This quantity
is to be given in one dose, two hours before the paroxysm,
and to be continued for eight or fifteen days, if the fever does
not yield at the fourth or sixth dose.

2. In substance, the leaves are to be dried and reduced to
powder, and passed through a sieve, and one or two gros
macerated in ordinary white wine for twelve hours, or made
into a decoction with water without being strained. ‘lhis
dose should be given two or three hours before the paroxysm,
and, if not found sufficient, the quantity can be increased to
three gros, which may be repeated four, five, six, or more
times, if necessary. Dr, Constantin, of the naval hospital of
Rochefort, obtained great success by administering, during
the intervals of the paroxysms, one gros of the leaves in de-
coction every four wen which was continued for two or
three weeks, as required, in addition to the vinous pre-
scription.

6 Dr. Rousseau on the

3. In extract, it is given in doses of one half to one gros,
as a bolus or in the form of pill; or the quantity can be in-
creased to one half, if the pertinacity of the fever should
render such increase necessary.

4, Asilicine. This febrifuge principle, in which the bitter
matter of the plant resides, should be administered in doses
of six, twelve, eighteen, or twenty-four grains, in the form of
pills, as least disagreeable to the patient, and the use of it
continued until the disease is entirely subdued.

5. In injection. 'This mode of administration originated
with Dr. Constantin, already mentioned: he recommends
half an ounce of the leaves, either dry or freshly gathered,
to be boiled for about a quarter of an hour, in a sufficient
quantity of water to form a clyster. These injections, be-
sides their febrifuge effects, have the accompanying advan-
tage of producing free evacuations from the bowels, without
pain or griping. Dr. Serrurisr has likewise prescribed the
holly in the form of enemata, and his experience coincides
with that of Dr. Constantin, both having been equally suc-
cessful. Many cases furnished by this physician are embo-
died in this report. The clinical observations of Professor
Macenpte have likewise furnished many conclusive facts in
favor of the efficacy of this medicine, although they have not
been communicated in all the detail that they deserve.

The following cases will give, I hope, a decided proof of
the febrifuge action, as well as sedative powers of the leaves
of the Ilex Aquifolium upon the spleen, liver, and pancreas,
especially when the sensibility of these organs has been in-
creased by the use of the cinchona and its compounds;
phenomena which, I think, have only been observed by me,
and upon which, nevertheless, I am of opinion that the pro-
tracted duration of intermittent fever in great part depends.

Case I. John Louis Auscar, aged twenty, coachman, was at-
tacked with a quotidian intermittent fever, the 26th July, 1816,
which he said was caused by taking a bottle of beer when he was
warm. He entered the Hotel Dieu, and having left it without re-
ceiving any benefit by the treatment he there received, he con-
sulted me the 4th November, 1816, (four months after the first
attack of fever.) I ordered him to take one gros (in infusion) of
the leaves of the holly, two hours before each paroxysm. The
second dose cured him, within forty-eight hours. J saw him fifteen
days after, and he was quite restored to health.

Case II. A lady, of lymphatic temperament, aged eighteen,
afflicted for twelve days with a double quotidian intermittent, in
March, 1818. She took half a gros of the same powder, infused
in a glass of white wine, before the paroxysm: one dose sufticed
to effect a cure.

Holly and Tlicine. 7

Case III. In 1820, Madame Thuillies was aMiicted for six months
with an intermittent fever: I advised her to try the effect of the
holly-leaves, and gave her the powder as above described. Three
doses of infusion, each containing one gros of the powder, cured
her.

Case IV. Madame Cocher, a dairywoman at Ivrey, near Paris,
had a quotidian intermittent, for which she was ordered, by a dis-
tinguished surgeon, cinchona bark in powder, sulphate of quinine,
and wine of Seguin, twice an emetic, &c., without the least relief.
She had suffered with this attack for two months and a half
before she consulted me: when I saw her, her face was pale, and
of a leaden hue; eyes yellow; lips discoloured; tongue yellow;
appetite lost; liver enlarged and painful; inferior extremities ede.
matous; and she could scarcely support herself in the erect posi-
tion. I ordered her two doses, of two gros each, of the same powder
infused in wine: the first of which changed the fever to the tertian
type, and somewhat restored the appetite. The second dose, which
was taken the day after the next paroxysm occurred, produced four
alvine evacuations, and entirely cured the fever.

Case V. Joli, aged twenty-one, a labourer at Ivrey, and living
in the same district with the milkwoman whose case is detailed
above, was treated in a similar way, and by the same surgeon, ex-
cepting that he was bled twice; but all without any good effect,
Three doses of the powder of holly-leaves, of two gros each, were
administered. The two first prevented the return of the paroxysms
for eight days; and after the third the fever never recurred,

Case VI. M. Despoi, 55, Quai de la Rapée, afflicted with
a tertian intermittent during three months, consulted me, June,
1827; he had previously taken cinchona bark in partes and the
sulphate of quinine. He complained of pain in the epigastrium,
which prevented him from walking. The right side was extremely
painful to the touch, and I felt, between the liver and stomach, a
considerable swelling, deeply seated, which I believed to be a
greatly enlarged pancreas; the liver also was more voluminous
than natural, and morbidly sensible. Three doses, of two gros
each, of the holly powder steeped in white wine, restored the pa-
tient, so that he had no further relapse of the fever; and the tumour,
which I decided to be an enlarged pancreas, gradually disappeared,
and the liver lost its preternatural sensibility.

Case VII. Madame M., a lady living at Bondy, was attacked,
while walking, in the spring of 1828, with a sudden shivering along
the spinal column, which continued for two hours, and was followed
by the hot dry stage, and this by the profuse sweating of ague.
Similar paroxysms continued to return daily at the same hour for
a month, notwithstanding the administration of five grains increased
to fifteen grains of sulphate of quinine daily, of two bleedings, and
the application of twenty-four leeches to the pit of the stomach.
When I was consulted, the 15th June, the face was of a livid yel-
low colour; eyes yellow; lips blanched; pain in the region of the

8 Dr. Rousseau on the

liver and spleen; and cedema of the limbs. I ordered half a gros
of the alcoholic extract of the leaves of the holly, to be taken in
two doses, three hours before each paroxysm. The first dose caused
the paroxysm to continue only one hour, instead of four; the se-
cond-dose, taken two days after, effected a cure. These two doses
produced six evacuations from the bowels.

Case VIII. M. Adlard, aged thirty and some years, was at-
tacked, in 1828, with a tertian intermittent, when employed in a
porcelain manufactory: he was ordered two grains of tartar emetic,
and was bled several times. The fever still continuing, cinchona
bark was given in its various forms, which not only created nausea,
but irritation of the stomach. The sulphate of quinine was given in
boluses, of which he took (according to his own account) 150, four
of them morning and evening; did not know the quantity of qui-
nine in each bolus; these effected an intermission of the paroxysms
for four, six, and even eight days. At last quinine lost its effect.
Hepatitis set in by the continued use of this salt; the least pressure
in the region of the liver caused extreme pain, so that he could
not endure the weight of the bedclothes, nor even of his shirt.
He was advised, at the end of nine months, to leave Champeroux,
which was surrounded by marshes: he came to Paris, and consulted
me, two months after his arrival, the 25th February, 1829. The
fever had then not diminished in the least; there was great weak-
ness; eyes sunk, and slightly yellow; nostrils contracted; lips
discoloured; skin generally of a yellow leaden colour; walks with
difficulty; loss of appetite; costive and scanty evacuations from
bowels; urine of asaffron colour. Jn this state, I ordered him two
gros of the powdered leaves, in vinous infusion, to be taken two
hours before the paroxysm, which retarded its access from six o’clock
A.M. to midday. On the 26th, he had a better appetite than here-
tofore; but the fever returned on the 27th, at two o’clock p.m.
He then took the same dose as before on the Ist March, and the
paroxysm did not appear until six o’clock p.m., but was severer
than the last. The liver, however, became diminished in size, and
he had a greater relish for his meals. ‘The paroxysm returned on
the 3d at midnight; also the 5th. Gave him a third dose on the
9th, of two and a half gros of the powder, which completely
checked the fever for six days. This dose produced four very fetid
alvine evacuations; after which, the patient walked with greater
facility, and the irritability of the liver decreased greatly. On
the 15th and 18th, paroxysms returned, but were milder. On
the 24th, took a fourth dose of three gros. On the 27th, he took
the fifth and last dose, which completely subdued the fever. I
saw him on the 8th July, perfectly recovered; stomach, liver, skin,
&c. performing their functions normally. This was the severest
case | have ever seen: I never ordered before such large doses of
the Ilex Aquifolium.

I also attended the wife of this person, who had had ninety
leeches at three times applied to the epigastrium, and had taken

——

Holly and Tlicine. 9

thirty-six boluses of sulphate of quinine without success, for a quo-
tidian intermittent fever. I saw her in 1827, and two doses, of
two gros each, of this powder perfectly cured her.

Case X. M. B. was attacked with a double tertian intermittent
in February 1829; and, after a delay of eight days, in order to re-
move a rheumatic affection, and to be more certain of my diagnosis,
I ordered two doses of the watery extract of the leaves of the
holly, each containing one gros, which effected a perfect cure.

Case XI. L. J. Moreau, aged nineteen, living in Paris, of a
lymphatic temperament, had a paroxysm of intermittent fever the
24th August, 1829, which lasted twenty hours; also on the 26th,
28th, 31st August, and 2d September; from which time it became
a perfect tertian. I ordered him, on the 16th September, two gros
of the leaves in decoction, to be taken two hours before the parox-
ysm. This caused three evacuations from the bowels, and the pa-
roxysm only continued six hours. The fever returned on the 18th;
and on the 20th he repeated the same dose, which caused four mo-
tions, and the paroxysm continued six hours, but did not return,
and he has since enjoyed the most perfect health.

Case XII. 1 was consulted, the 4th December last, by Madame
Voix de Provis, who was affected with a quotidian intermittent for
six months. One dose of two gros of the powder, given in wine,
effectually removed the fever.

Here terminate the records of those cases which I have
myself observed: to the distinguished physicians whose’
names are mentioned I am indebted for the following, which
complete this monograph.

[The author next proceeds to give the details of sixty-five
cases of intermittent fever, the greater number of which
(forty-three cases) he has collected from the Cliniques of M.
ConsTanTIN, naval surgeon at Rochefort, and from that of
M. Macenopir, at the Hétel Dieu at Paris. The other cases
were communicated to him by M. Louis, M. Perronaux,
M. Lerrepour, &c.

From this very voluminous record the translator has ex-
tracted the most important features, and reduced them to a
tabular form, in which the type of fever, the person by whom
treated, the medicines administered, and the results, are in-

troduced. ]

10

Dr. Rousseau on the

A Tabular View of Sixty-five Cases of Intermittent Fever, de-
scribed by Dr. Rousseau, in his Prize Essay on the Use of the
Ilex Aquifolium in the Treatment of that Disease: with an
Appendix, including those Cases treated by the Author himself,

and detailed in this Memoir.

Length Duration
of time of Treat-

Type of Fever. By whom treated. Age. Sex. ill. ment.
1 Quotidian * M.Constantin 39 Male 6days 3days
2 _ _ 20 — 8days 10 days
3 os — 23¢«C 2 days 14 days
4 — _ 23 — 2 days 13 days
5 —_ — 38 — 10 days 12 days
6 _ M. Lepredour _ — $days
7 _ M.GilletdeS. 9 — _ —
8 —t M. Treand 20 Male 12days 6 days
9 —+ M. Serrurier 44 — _ —
10 Tertian M. Constantin 23 Male 8days 4 days
il —§ _ 25 _ 5days 6 days
Le) _ = 230 — 8days 8 days
13 _ — 360¢«C _ 6 days
14 _ —_ 43 _ — 9 days
B _- = 4a — — 5 days
16 = _ 52 — 1l0days —
17 — - 300¢«C — 65 days
18 —_ _ 3300 — S8days
19 —il M. Lepredour — - —
20 —¥ M. Serrurier 49 Female — _
21 Tert. dou.** M. Treand Male 7 days 3 days
22 Quartan tt M. Quéau Female 2mon. 4 days
23 — tt M. Constantin 29 Male 6days 4 days
24 — §§ — 28 — Ilddays 5 days
25 — ill - 37 — 2— 13—
26 — — 26 — 15— _ 6 days
27 — 449 _ 30 — w—
28 _ _— 6 — IW 12 —
29 — *e _ 32 — 10—- 9—
30 — tit — 46 — W— 1lO—
31 — ttt —_ 3k oe le ay pe
32 — §§$ _ HO 6 — 10=
33 _ _ 23 — lWmon. 12—
34 — _ 25 — — LB—
35 — = 3 °=«— — 2—
36 co _ 28 — — w—
Se — 2 eaten) en
38 — _ 4 — _
39 — i) M.Treand 69 Female 1 year 7 days
40 _ M. Delonnel 21 Male 24days 6 —
41 —_ M. St. Amande 27 — 3wks, 8 —
42 Erratic] M.Lepredour 27) — Sm 6—

* Convict, as all those treated by M. Constantin.
+ Was first bled and purged.

+ Relapse after six months, cured by quinine.

§ Had frequent attacks of the same.

{. Relapse: quinine not used, gout being present.
“| Second attack; first cured by quinine.

** Fifth attack. +t Quinine failed.

$§ Fourth attack. i] Fourth attack.
*e* Fourth attack. ttt Relapse.
ttt Second attack; first cured by quinine.

Number of Doses, and their
Strength and Form.

2 doses of 8,00 in wine
1 dose of 8,00 pulv.
2 doses of
3 doses of
2 doses of
3 doses of 2 gros in powder
4 doses of 2 gros in powder
3 doses of
1 dose of 8,00 of powder
8 doses of
3 doses of 15 grains, decoct.
3 doses of 8,00 in powder
1 dose of
2 doses of
1 dose of
3 doses of
3 doses of
2 doses of 2 gros in powder
5 doses of
2 doses of
1 dose of
2 doses of 8,00 in powder
2 doses of
6 doses of 2 gros in decoct.
4 doses of
3 doses of
4 doses of
3 doses of
6 doses of
3 injections of 4 gros, p.
3 injections of
3 doses of 15 gr. of powder
9 injec. of
7 inject. and 2 doses in dec.
3 doses of 8,00 in powder
4 doses of

—
——

—

LIT

[1

—

—_—

——

11 wks. 12 doses and 11 injections

4 doses of 2 gros in powder
2 doses of
6 doses of
3 doses of 8 grains, powder

+ Second attack.
41] Second attack.

§§§ Third attack.
ti) During the last three months it was a double quartan.

39

{Quinine failed.

Holly and Ilicine. ll

Length Duration Page
of time of Treat- Number of Doses, and their in
Type of Fever. By whom treated.Age. Sex. ill. ment. —™ Strength and Form. MS.
43 Quotidian M.Perronaux 14 Male Sdays 4days 4dosesoflgrosin powder 63
wv —* M. Cargnou 47 — l4mon. 2 — 4 doses of 3gros —— OA
45 — M. Louis 29 — 1—_ 4— 3 doses of 2 gros —— 73
46 —t M. Magendie 25 Femalelddays25— 14 doses and injections 87
47 -—?t — 27 ~ 4— 4— 3 doses of the powder 92
48 oe _ 7 — W— WL— 10 doses of -- 95
49 — — 42 — 5 wks. 4— 3 doses of — 97
BO a = ao — 3g— Ne 9 doses of — wl
51 — _ 306CUC (eC —— ss P2— _ 1 dose Of decoction 108
x2 a _— 62 — Ilidaysl0— 8 doses of decoct. and inject. 110
53 -- _ 22 — 19days 4— 3 doses of — ls
oi _ _ 6o — 3wks. 4— 5 doses of decoction 116
55 Quot. double oe 41 — 4— R- 9 doses of — 14
56 Tertian M. Perronaux 20 Male l0days 6— 34d. of 14 gros in powder 62
57 —J M. Louis 306U——COCdMG | 4— 2 doses of 2 gros in powder val
58 -q M. Arbey 20 Female 6— 5— 3 dosesof — 78
59 -* M. St. Amande 18 Male | year 3— 1 dose of 1 gros in powder 83
oO — M. Magendie 19 Female 15days15-~ 13 doses of 2 gros and inject. 85
61 — tt — 23 — wWw— 2— 14 doses and injections 90
62 _ = 2 — # £=Gwks. 9— 7 doses of the powder ll4
63 Tert. dou. tt M. Collineau 44 — 8mon. 5— 4 doses of 2grosin powder 68
64 Intermitt. §§ M.Serrurier 76 Male S8days20— 6 doses of 2 gros and 7 inject. 57
6 = M. Moncourier 60 — 2mon. 8— _ 6 doses of = 75
® Quinine, &c. failed. + Left hospital on the fourth day of treatment.

+ Injections caused copious evacuations.

§ Relapse after seven days, from exposure to cold.

ft Was previously bled. §| Second attack ; first cured by quinine.

** Had many attacks, cured by quinine. +t Was exposed to a current of air.
tt Quinine in large doses failed. §§ Injections caused copious evacuations.

APPENDIX.
Tabular View of CASES treated by the Author, and detailed in this Memoir.
66 Quotidian Dr. Rousseau. 20 Male 4mon. 2days 2 dosesoflgrosinpowder 17

67 Doub. quot. -- 18 Female 12days — 1 dose half-gr. pulv.inwine 18
68 Intermittent -- Female 6mon. few da. 3dosesof 1 grosinpowder 18
69 Quotidian * _ Female 10 wks. 3days 2 doses of 2 gros = 19
ri - ? — 21 Male _ = 3 doses of od 20
71 Tertian _ 55 Male 3mon. — 3 doses of — 20
72 Quotidian § ~ Female lmon. 2 days 24. one and half gr. extract 21
73 Tertian | _ 30 Male limon. 6 wks, 54.2 and 2and half gr. pulv. 23
74 Quotidian § = Female — — 2dosesof 2grosinpowder 26
75 Doub. Tert. ~ Male days — 2 doses of 4 gros extract 27
76 Tertian _ 19 Male 3wks. 4days 2 doses of 2grosdecoction 2
77 Quotidian Female 6mon. — Idose of 2grosinpowder 29
78 Quotid, with

Nerv. Fever -- 11 Male 56w. I6days 128 grains of Ilicine 117

* Emetics: cinchona and quinine had failed.

{ Same treatment and bleeding failed.

t Hark and quinine failed: visceral disease.

§ Quinine gre. v. to xv. failed.

§ Emetics, bark, and quinine failed,

© Thirty-six quinine boluses and ninety leeches useless,

Summary of the Sixty-five Cases given in detail in the original
Manuscript.

Twenty-two cases of quotidian intermittent, see

treated by M. Consranain, of Rochfort, and M. Macenpte:

equally male and female. One case was fourteen months ill,

12 Dr. Rousseau on the

with whom quinine failed: the fever ceased by the adminis-
tration of four doses, of three gros each, of the powder of the
leaves of the holly, in twelve days. A second case, a female,
aged twenty-five, was ten days ill; treatment continued during
twenty-five days; fourteen doses, and an equal number of in-
jections of the holly were administered. The remaining
twenty cases were ill from two days to five weeks; duration
of treatment varied from three to fourteen days, and the
number of doses of the holly from one to ten, each of which
consisted of from one to three gros of the powdered leaves.

Twenty Cases of tertian intermittent, fourteen males and
six females. One case, treated by M. Sr. AmanpE, male,
aged eighteen, was one year ill; one dose of the powder,
containing one gros, removed the fever. A second case, (a
double tertian,) female, aged forty-four, treated by M.
CoLuiNEav; eight months ill; the fever ceased in five days,
by four doses, of two gros each, of the powdered holly-leaves.
A third case, a female, aged twenty-eight, treated by
M. Macenpie, was ill six weeks; the fever ceased in nine
days, by seven doses of the same powder. ‘The remaining
seventeen cases, treated principally by M. Constantin and
M. Macenpir, were from five to sixteen days ill previous to
treatment; duration of treatment varied from three to twenty
days, and the doses of the powder from two to fourteen, each
containing from one to three gros.

Twenty Cases of quartan intermittent. One case treated
by M. Constantin, male, aged twenty-three, was ten
months ill, and was cured in twelve days, by three doses of
the powdered leaves. A second case, of a female, aged sixty-
nine, treated by M. Trianp, was one year ill, during the last
three months of which the type of the fever changed to a
double quartan, which was cured in seven days, by four doses,
of two gros each, of the holly. A third case, of a male, aged
twenty-four, treated by M. Constantin; period of previous
illness not stated; duration of treatment, ten weeks; nine
doses of the decoction of the leaves of the holly were given,
each dose consisting of two glasses, the first two weeks;
during the third week, three doses of the powder in wine
were given. By this treatment the paroxysms became milder,
though not less frequent; and during the remaining seven
weeks, eleven injections of a decoction of holly-leaves (only)
were administered, which effectually removed the fever.

The other seventeen cases, sixteen male and one female,
principally treated by M. Consranrin; periods of illness
varied from six days to two months; duration of treatment,
from four to thirteen days; doses from one to six of the

Holly and Ilicine. 13

powdered leaves. In three of those cases, injections of a
decoction of the leaves of the holly were only employed, with
an equally good effect.

The other three cases of the sixty-five: one of an erratic
type, male, aged twenty-seven; three weeks ill; quinine
failed, and was cured in six days by three doses of the holly.
The type of the second and third cases is not mentioned;
males: one, aged seventy-six, was cured in twenty days, by
six doses and seven injections of the holly; the other, aged
sixty, two months ill, cured by six doses of the holly, in eight
days.

Conspectus of some of the most remarkable Cases, selected from
the Sixty-five detailed at length in the original Essay.

Of the sixty-five cases presented, there are some which
merit a more particular notice.

There are four cases given in which quinine, and the other
eperons of cinchona bark, failed to produce any change
in the fever. The first is that of a female, who during two
months was treated for a quartan, by pills of sulphate of
quinine and injections of the decoction of bark, without the
slightest effect: one dose of the pulvis ilicis, of two gros, was
sufficient to check completely the fever. ‘The second in a
man, treated during three weeks for an erratic intermittent
fever, by cinchona and its preparations, which failed to pro-
duce its ordinary effects: three doses of the pulvis ilicis suf-
ficed to effect a cure. ‘The third case, that of a man aged
forty-seven, afflicted with a quotidian for fourteen months,
during which time he was treated by several persons, some
of whom tried the various preparations of cinchona, in the
very largest doses: four doses, of three gros each, of the
pulvis ilicis effected the long-sought-for cure. The fourth
case, that of a female aged forty-four, during eight months
was afflicted with a double tertian, for which she took quinine
without effect: four doses, of two gros each, of the holly
sufficed to eflect the cure.

Three other cases deserve notice, owing to the duration of
the illness and the comparative smallness of the quantity of
the holly necessary to procure a restoration to health. ‘The
first, that of a man aged twenty-three, suffering for ten
months under a quartan intermittent, which ceased in twelve
days after three doses of the ilex. The second that of a fe-
male, aged sixty-nine, afflicted during a year with a quartan;
four doses of the ilex, of two gros each, effected acure. The
third, a case of tertian intermittent, of one year’s, standing,
which one dose of one gros of the powdered leaves of the ilex
effectually removed.

14 Dr. Rousseau on the

There are six cases (two quotidian, three tertian, one
quartan,) cured by one dose, of two or three gros each, of
the powder of the holly.

There are ten cases (three quotidian, four tertian, three
quartan,) cured by two doses of the same.

There are twenty cases (seven quotidian, seven tertian, six
quartan,) cured by three doses of the same.

There are eight cases (three quotidian, one tertian, four
quartan,) cured by four doses of the same very valuable me-
dicine.

Case of Nervous Fever, complicated with daily Paroxysms of
Ague, treated successfully by the author of this Memoir, by the
use of Ilicine, a substance which he discovered in May 1831.

Bataille, a youth, aged eleven years, of a nervous habit, residing
in Paris for the prosecution of his studies, was entered on the sick
list on the Ist of June, 1831. This lad complained of a violent
headach, cough, and much heat of the abdomen; but these symp-
toms were not thought sufficient to confine him to his room, and
his medical attendant permitted him to rejoin his class. Being
thus neglected, the fever increased in severity, and became mani-
festly of a typhoid character. On the 27th of June, it was com-
plicated with an attack of ague, which came on about four or five
o'clock in the afternoon ; the paroxysm lasted two hours and a half.
On the 28th the attack returned at eight in the evening; and on
the 29th at ten in the forenoon.

I saw the patient at four p.m. in consultation with my colleague
Dr. Lonces-ViLLeRMay. The following were the most prominent
symptoms: weakness of the back, much prostration of strength,
and general apathy; pupils much dilated, and very little contrac-
tile; teeth slightly covered with sordes; mucous rattle in the
upper lobes of both lungs; abdomen very hot; urine scanty, and of
a red colour; pulse 110 to 120 per minute.

The paroxysms continued to recur daily to the 9th of July, with
equal severity, and always commencing with coldness of the feet.
Dr. Longes-Villermay proposed the administration of quinine, but
I was anxious to employ the febrifuge principle of the holly-leaves,
which I had lately discovered, and on Saturday, 9th July, at eight
p.m. a pill containing six grains of ilicine was given to the boy, who
had a quiet night; he also took at the same time some liquorice
powder.

July 10th, at six p.m, The six-grain ilicine pill was repeated ;
the shivering fit, however, came on, lasting two hours and a half,
and the hot stage equalled it in length.

llth. Medicines repeated. The cold stage of the intermittent
commenced at two o’clock, and lasted but two hours. The hot
stage, however, did not terminate till a quarter to eight in the
evening.

J

Holly and Ilicine. 15

12th. Skin more supple, and the patient appears better; but
the stupor continues as at first. Ilicine repeated. The parox-
ysm of fever occurred at eleven a.m., the cold stage lasting for
three quarters of an hour: he however seemed less sleepy than on
the 11th. At noon he took another six-grain ilicine pill: yet he
still had return of coldness in the feet about half-past seven P.M.,
but it was not followed by sweating.

13th. Two ilicine pills given at six a.m. Coldness of feet came
on at half-past nine, and lasted till eleven a.m.; this was followed
by intense heat for about an hour, which then gave way to perspi-
ration, and the paroxysm (during which he had a yellow fetid eva-
cuation,) terminated at a quarter-past four P.M.

14th. Medicines repeated. Access of cold stage at half-past
ten, lasting only half the time of yesterday's attack, and followed
likewise by a hot stage of diminished violence: during his waking
intervals he asked for food.

15th. Same medicines. Paroxysm rather longer in cold and hot
stages, but terminated by a more profuse perspiration. He slept
the greater part of the day.

16th. Took only one pill of ilicine. Paroxysm did not recur
till nearly one p.m., and the hot stage was scarcely sensible.

17th. Twelve grains of ilicine given in two pills. Paroxysm
delayed till three p.m., and of much less severity.

18th. Twenty-four grains of ilicine given in four pills, beginning
at six a.m., and repeating the dose of one pill every three hours.
A warm bath likewise ordered.

The same medicines were continued during four days longer,
but the paroxysm getting weaker and weaker for two days, and
none at all occurring on the 2Ist or 22d, on the 23d the ilicine was
discontinued; and on the 6th of August I saw him for the last time,
when he was completely restored to health.

Note. One hundred and ninety-eight grains of ilicine were given
to this patient, besides which cold lotions were applied to the head,
two blisters for a short time to each side of the chest, and to the in-
sides of the thighs; warm fomentations to the abdomen; two warm
baths, clysters, pediluvia, and hot cataplasms to the feet. Inter-
nally, besides the ilicine, he took ily emollient ptisans, gum
syrup, capillaire, &c. The above detail shews that this young pa-
tient was cured by the use of ilicine, without any recourse being
had to bark.

Conclusion. 'The end of our labours, for the present, has
arrived, and assisted as we have been by physicians, the re-
sults of whose practice we have already given, we may draw
the following conclusions:

Ist. That the powder of holly-leaves is, in the cure of
disease, a valuable medicine, and that nature, always kind,
seems to have designed it especially for that unhappy class of
patients which fortune often permits not to consult a Shssiclar,

16 Dr. Rousseau on the Holly and Ilicine.

and still more frequently prevents from purchasing the me-
dicines he prescribes.

2d. The hospitals, both civil and military, will equally pro-
fit by its introduction; and government will find in this febri-
fuge a great diminution of expense with regard to medicines;
as it may be had for the trouble of gathering, and the cost of
making those preparations that I have described will be very
trifling.

It has been a great gratification to me to have been able to
collect so many testimonies as I have cited of its efficacy, and
which have been afforded me by the learned physicians whose
names have been already mentioned; and it would have in-
creased this gratification could I have added those furnished
by Dr. Rreynaup, professor and physician at Toulon; Dr.
CLEMENT, physician to the Hépital dela Pitie; Dr. Gatmarp,
professor and physician at Rochefort; Doctors Serre and
Trvut, members of the Faculty of Montpellier. But my nu-
merous avocations have prevented me taking notice of the be-
neficial results which they have obtained, and which have
united with others to recommend the holly for trial; and their
recommendation has not been made in vain. ‘To all I would
return my thanks: they have favored my researches, and as,
on the one hand, they have assisted with me to enrich our
therapeutic catalogues by the addition of a medicine, the pro-
perties of which have been discovered again; so, on the other,
they have offered to humanity a means, at little cost, to cure
those fevers which often yield not at all, or with much diffi-
culty, to the use of bark persevered in for a great length of
time; a course so lengthened as often to involve serious dis-
organization of the liver, independently of the consideration
of the high price of the drug, which the poor are unable to
afford: a double misfortune this, but one that cannot be ob-
jected to the use of the Hotty and its preparations.

Note. Dr. Rousseau’s paper was accompanied with specimens
of the various preparations of holly in powder, extract, &c., and
also with a bottle of the ilicine; all which, together with the origi-
nal manuscripts, are deposited in the collection of the Medico-
Botanical Society, and may be seen on application to the Librarian
or Conservator.

17

JAMAICA DOGWOOD.

On THe Mepicat Properties or THE Piscip1a EryTurina,
or Jamaica Docwoop. By Wixiram Hamitton, M.B.,
Corresponding Member of the Medico-Botanical Society.

Tue Jamaica dogwood tree, or Piscidia Erythrina, is a
small branching tree, of from fifteen to twenty feet in height,
common in the low grounds near the sea, in most of the
West India islands, and every where by the road sides
(according to Jacquin) in Jamaica, where it flowers, accord-
ing to my observations, in the months of March, April, and
May, during which it is wholly destitute of leaves, which
rarely appear before the period of inflorescence has passed.
It belongs to the Linnean class and order of Diadelphia
Decandria, and is distinguished from other plants of the same
class and order by its acute stigma, and four-winged legume,
enclosing a number of compressed, oblongo-reniform seeds.
Its leaves, which are periodically deciduous, are unequally
pinnated, with ovate, very entire, pubescent leaflets. Towards
the middle or latter end of March, thyrsoidal racemes of
white papilionaceous flowers, of rather a large size, wholly
destitute of smell, make their appearance at the extremities
of the younger branches, and continue progressively expand-
ing till about the middle of May, when they are succeeded
by clusters of linear compressed legumes, furnished with four
membranaceous, longitudinal wings, greatly exceeding the
legume itself in breadth: the legume consists of one cell,
nearly united between the seeds, so as to appear to a careless
observer like a many-celled legume. The seeds, which I
have always observed to be very much compressed, and of
an oblong reniform shape, Swarrz describes as roundish.
According to Jacquin, the leaves and branches of this
tree, bruised and mixed with water, intoxicate the fish it
contains, making them swim blindly on the surface, so as to
become an easy prey to the fisherman: his words are, “ Folia
ramulique contusa, et aquis injecta, pisces inebriant, ut aquis
supernatent, manuque capi possint: quam virtutem cum
multis aliis plantis Americanis communem hee arbor possi-
det.” Among the other West Indian plants to which he re-
fers in the concluding part of the sentence as sharing this
property of intoxicating fish, are the Jacquinia Armillaris,
called by the Spaniards ef Barbasco, by the French Bois
bracelets, and by the English pieerust, a low but ornamental
shrub common on the seacoast in most of the Antilles, and
D

18 Dr. Hamilton on the

an ingredient in one of the most deadly of the toxiques of
South America; the Galega toxicaria, and a plant of which I
have never been able to obtain any true account, which the
Carribs of St. Vincent were said to employ, in a somewhat
different manner, for the same purpose, under the name of
Wonga root. From the similarity of the effect produced by
all these various substances on the animal economy, it is not
unreasonable to conjecture that this uniformity of action
arises from the uniform presence of the same active principle
in each, analogous to the morphine, quinine, tannin, &c.,
which are found to pervade a variety of dissimilar plants,
communicating to them, however, a similarity of properties
more or less decided according to the degree of concentra-
tion in which it exists in each. Hence it might be worth
while to subject them all to the test of medical experiment,
in order to determine how far their active properties are capa-
ble of being rendered subservient to the wants of mankind.

In the only instance in which I have had an opportunity
of witnessing the powerful effect of the dogwood as auxiliary
to the fisherman, it was the bark of the roots, and not the
leaves and young branches, which were employed. This
bark was gathered at the season of flowering, and at the
lunar period at which, according to the well-ascertained law
of intratropical vegetation, the juices of the plant were in the
highest state of activity, namely, the full moon in April. To
those whose acquaintance with the phenomena of vegetable
life is limited to the temperate zone, the idea of lunar influ-
ence upon the circulation of the sap may appear more vi-
sionary than correct; but to those who have resided for any
time within the tropics, the fact is perfectly familiar, and the
importance of strict attention to it fully known: the influence
of the lunar phases on the sap in trees is such as to render
the strictest attention to the state of the moon at the time of
felling timber necessary, if the timber is desired to be dura-
ble. The West Indies abound in the most valuable hard
woods, such as the Zygophyllum arboreum, or Guayacan
tree, which, if cut between the full and new moon, when the
sap is dormant or descending, are almost indestructible; but
which, if felled between the new and full moon, when the sap
has begun to mount, will infallibly begin to decay before the
expiration of ten years, or even a shorter period. Even the
fact alluded to by the Roman poet of the influence of the
phases of the moon on animal life, where he says,

‘«* Lubrica nascentes implent conchylia Lune,”

is perfectly familiar to the West India planters, who never

Jamaica Dogwood. 19

admit the Echini, or sea eggs, a well-known West Indian
delicacy, to their tables, except when the moon is at the full,
experience having taught them that this delicate shellfish
improves with the increasing, and goes out of season with the
waning moon. This digression may appear foreign to my
purpose; but will, I trust, appear excusable when I state
that, from the disappointments I have myself experienced
from neglecting a due attention to what I was at first dis-
posed to regard as a vulgar error, I have been fully convinced
that the activity or inertness of the bark of the Piscidia de-
pends as much upon the season of the year and the period
of the moon at which it has been gathered, as that of digitalis,
colchicum, or any of the other valuable remedies with which
the Flora of Britain presents us.

The bark of the dogwood root, collected at the period I
have stated, previous to being used for fish poisoning, as the
sport is called, is macerated with the lees of the stillhouse,
and temper or quicklime, and put into baskets of a conve-
nient size, with one of which each of the fishermen is pro-
vided: thus equipped, one or more of them embark in one or
more boats, according to the size of the bay selected for the
sport, and, pushing to a sufficient distance from the shore,
they hold their baskets over the side of the boat in the water,
which they continue to agitate with their baskets till the
whole of their contents is washed out, and the water has be-
come impregnated with the intoxicating preparation, which
happens sooner and to a wider or narrower extent according
to the number of washers and boats, and the dimensions of
the bay. In a little time the smaller fish are seen floating,
apparently dead, upon the surface of the water, while the
larger fish, capable of longer resisting the stupifying influ-
ence of the medicated water, swim wildly about, raising their
heads above the narcotic fluid, and striving as it were to
breathe a purer atmosphere: these surrender themselves an
easy prey to the persons in the boats, who catch them witb
their hands as they float by, perfectly unresisting; if thrown,
immediately after being taken, into fresh and pure water,
there is no doubt that, with the exception perhaps of the
smaller fry, they would soon recover. Neither their flavour
nor wholesomeness is in the least impaired by the manner in
which they have been taken; but, from the number which
are usclessly destroyed by this mode of taking fish, poisoning
has been prohibited in many of our islands. ‘The manner in
which the Wonga root was used by the Carribs differs in
appearance from this, which I myself witnessed, but in prin-

ple is indisputably the same: they stuffed, as I was informed,

20 Dr. Hamilton on the

the bellies of several small fish with a preparation of the
root, and threw the fish thus doctored overboard, when they
were devoured with avidity by the larger fish: these latter
being stupified by the dose, became, in their turn, the prey
of the icthyophagists in the boats.

Struck with the singular and decided effect of the dogwood
bark upon the fish, 1 was induced to investigate its proper-
ties as an internal remedy upon the human frame, and com-
menced, accordingly, a series of experiments upon myself
with the bark, in substance, in infusion, in decoction, and in
tincture; which last I found to be the only efficient and prac-
ticable mode of exhibition, since the active constituent appears
to be a resin insoluble in any thing but rectified spirit: hence
the necessity of the stillhouse lees, which contain alcohol in
a highly concentrated state, in combination with a powerful
and deleterious empyreumatic oil, in the preparation of the
bark for fish poisoning.

My tincture was prepared by macerating one ounce of the
coarsely powdered bark in twelve ounces, by measure, of
rectified spirit, which I had brought with me from England,
for twenty-four hours, and straining. The tincture thus ob-
tained was of a fine honey yellow, and appeared to be fully
impregnated with the active principle of the bark: it had
nothing striking or offensive in its taste or smell, but, on
being dropped into water, it communicated to it an opaline
or milky hue, evidently from the separation of a resin; for,
on suffering some of the undiluted tincture to evaporate in a
glass, the sides were encrusted with a white film of the resin
which remained behind. Labouring at the time under a
severe toothach, which seemed to set sleep at defiance, I
took at bedtime a drachm measure of this tincture in a
tumbler of cold water, and lay down, with the uncorked
phial in the one hand and the empty glass in the other, to
speculate upon the manner of its operation on the system. The
dose was by no means disagreeable to take, nor was its action
on the mouth and throat unpleasant, like that of the bark in sub-
stance, which irritated the fauces like the Daphne mezereum
or the croton oil; but, soon after swallowing the dose, I be-
came sensible of a burning sensation in the epigastric region,
spreading rapidly to the surface, and terminating in a copious
diaphoresis, in the midst of which I was surprised by a sleep
so profound that I was utterly unconscious of existence from
about eight o'clock at night till eight the following morning,
when I awoke free from pain of every description, and found
myself still grasping the uncorked phial in one hand, from
which not a drop had been spilled, and the empty glass in

3

Jamaica Dogwood. 21

the other. No unpleasant sensation followed, as is usually
the case after opiates, from the exhibition of what was per-
haps a needlessly large dose; nor did a friend, whom, though
in perfect health, I persuaded to repeat my experiment in
his own, suffer the slightest inconvenience from an equally
full dose: his only observation was, that he never had slept
so sound in his life as he did that night. I next tried its
efficacy as a topical application in cases of carious teeth, in-
troducing a pledget of cotton impregnated with the tincture
into the cavity, and never knew an instance of a return of
pain after this application. I was next desirous of comparing
its effects upon animalcule in water with those of the tincture
of opium: for this purpose I took, in two separate wine-
glasses, equal quantities by measure of water, filled with the
ively young of the mosquito, adding to the water in one
glass a suflicient number of drops of the ‘Tinctura opii to
stupify the animalcule, which fell in a mass to the bottom;
I then dropped into the other an equal number of drops of
the ‘Tinctura Piscidiew, with a similar result. Next, taking
the first glass, and carefully decanting the water without dis-
turbing the insensible mass of animalcule, | poured upon
them fresh portions of pure water, previously filtered, in
order to prevent confusion; upon which they revived, and
swam about as actively as if nothing had happened. I treated
those in the glass to which the dogwood tincture had been
added, but without the slightest effect: the most frequently
repeated affusions of pure water were not of the least avail;
the animalcule were truly dead, and thus furnished a con-
clusive proof of the superior potency of the dogwood over
the opium tincture, in equal quantities. Experiments are
yet wanting to determine the minimum doses requisite in both
cases, and these it were much to be desired to have instituted by
some medical practitioner resident in the West Indies; taking
care, however, to employ bark gathered about the full moon
in April, when the plant is in ema and the best rectified
spirits, or even pure alcohol, in his experiments. An inat-
tention to these cautions will completely defeat the object of
the experiments, and, in place of obtaining an active and
valuable medicinal preparation, he will obtain one perfectly
worthless and inoperative.

It were also to be wished that a quantity of the bark, ga-
thered at the proper season, and carefully dried, might be
sent to this country, accompanied by a bottle of the tincture
prepared upon the spot, and carefully secured against the
decomposing influence of light, heat, and air, for the purpose
of enabling practitioners here to determine whether the me-

Q2 Dr. Hamilton on the Jamaica Dogwood.

dical virtues of the bark or the tincture at least impaired
by keeping and transportation, and whether the Piscidia is
an article adapted for supplying the place of the opium of the
Levant in the pharmaceutical preparations of this country.

It might also be desirable to institute a set of comparative
experiments upon the properties of the bark and leaves of
the young branches, which Jacquin speaks of as being em-
ployed to intoxicate fish; as well as upon the bark both of
the roots and branches of the Jacquinia armillaris, and other
plants employed for a similar purpose. In order to increase
the utility of these experiments, the substance operated upon
should be gathered at different seasons of the year, at diffe-
rent states of the moon, and in different stages of the growth
of the plant, accurately noting and distinguishing the various
results.

It is also of importance to determine, by careful analysis,
the uniformity or the dissimilarity of the principle upon
which the medical properties of these various substances de-
pend, the proportion in which it exists in each, and the
circumstances under which it is to be found in the greatest
abundance and highest perfection; as likewise the precau-
tions requisite for its preservation from decomposition.

From not being sufficiently alive to all these particulars at
the time, when a residence upon the spot afforded me an
opportunity of prosecuting the investigation with success,
my experiments have been incomplete, and their results un-
satisfactory. A letter on the subject, which I published in
Nicholson’s Journal, in October 1812, contains several errors,
which subsequent experience has enabled me partially to
correct; and the supply of bark noticed in that letter as sent
to Mr. Car iste for experiment, having been gathered at an
improper time (in the month of June), proved inert, as I my-
self experienced, from having prepared some tincture from a
portion which I retained for the purpose, was no doubt the
reason why I never heard from that gentleman on the
subject.

As an object equally interesting in a philosophical and a
medical point of view, and as tending to transfer a most lu-
erative branch of commerce from Turkey to our own posses-
sions, the Piscidia Erythryna is well entitled to the attention
of the Medico-Botanical Society, to whom I now resign its
further investigation, after having detailed my own imperfect
experiments, and their result.

AUSTRALIAN PLANTS.

, Observations on some Medicinal Products of Australian
Plants. By Mr. Mune.

Tue novel and peculiar botany of the great southern conti-
nent of Australia has not been examined so minutely, with
reference to the additions that it may make to the materials
of the healing art, as might, from its importance, be expected.
Several causes conspire to produce this; of these, one is ge-
neral, and applies to all newly-discovered countries alike,
and others arise from the peculiarities of that particular
country. The vast improvements which were made in che-
mistry, more especially during the last century, had a natural
tendency to mineralize the Pharmacopeeia, and to take off
the attention of inquiring minds from the medical properties
of vegetables. It is not easy to say how much has been
oc on the one side or lost on the other; but that there
as been loss, is certain; and those who wish that the re-
: sources of all the kingdoms of nature should be equally open to
man cannot fail to regard, in the most grateful and favorable
manner, the labours of the Society instituted for the express
purpose of doing justice to the medical qualities of plants.
he peculiar causes are to be found partly in the limited
knowledge that we have of Australia, partly in the disper-
sion of its vegetables, partly in their uniformity, and partly
in the ease with which the colonies are supplied with medi-
cines from the mother country. ‘There is another cause, the
ignorance of the natives when first visited. It does not ap-
pear that their medicines extended beyond chewed or
sprnagen grass, a poultice of mud, or fomentation produced
y the application of a broiled fish. Of course, they could not
point out medicinal plants to the European visitors; while
these have hitherto been too constantly occupied in erecting
habitations and finding food, for investigating the virtues of
plants with that patience and nicety which a subject so very
recondite demands.

The principal Australian substances which present them-
selves to the inquiries of the medical botanist, are chiefly
gums, or resins, of some description or other, and oils. The
oils are chiefly obtained from the genus Melaleuca, the spe-
cies of which are very numerous, and some of them are un-
derstood to yield an oil resembling in its virtues the cajeput
oil of the south-east of Asia. The gums and resins are
chiefly obtained from the stem of Xanthorrhaa, and from
exudations upon the bark of Acacia and Eucalyptus. The

24. Mr. Mudie on

latter is a very abundant genus, and the gum which it affords
is astringent, like kino or myrrh; while that of the Acacia is
more mucilaginous, and approaches nearer to gum arabic or
the gums of the genus Prunus, as common in this country. .
One species of Eucalyptus affords a substance, of which the
medicinal properties have been tried in Australia, and which,
should it be found to suffer no injury or decomposition dur-
ing the voyage, might materially reduce the price of manna,
which still retains its rank as a medicine.

Until the substance itself, which appears rather difficult to
preserve, be laid before the Society for their examination and
decision, it may not be altogether useless to offer a few notes
on the plant, as even that is but imperfectly known, and has
not, it is believed, been figured or described in any scientific
work. The following are the characters, and a few points in
the description:

Generic character of Eucalyptus. Calyx superus, per-
sistens, truncatus ante anthesin tectus. Operculo integer-
rimo, deciduo. Corollanulla. Capsula quadrilocularis, apice
dehiscens, polysperma.

Natural order: Myrtacee.

Specific name: Eucalyptus mannifera. (Manna gum tree.)

Specific character: Operculo hemispherico acutiusculo,
umbellis axillaribus terminalibusve 4-6 floris, cortice albo-
cinereo.

The principal habitat of this tree is upon the elevated
downs into which the Blue Mountains subside, and upon the
adjoining slopes. It grows to the height of from thirty to
forty feet, of irregular growth, and having a number of
slender branches. As is the case with almost all the
genus, the leaves, which are simple, lanceolate, and entire,
are placed vertically, by a peculiar twist of the footstalk.

From the accounts given of it, it does not appear that the
manna produced by this Eucalyptus is very different from
that yielded by the Fraxinus, on the coast of the Mediter-
ranean; though, as common report describes it as having less
of the nauseous taste, it may be less efficient as a medicine.
Like the manna of Europe, it is reported to contain a sac-
charine and a mucous ingredient, both of which are easily
soluble in water, and partially so likewise in the atmosphere,
when moist. It obviously arises from a rupture in the cortical
vessels of the tree, produced not by the puncture of insects,
but by atmospheric action, as it is produced only in the dry
season, and the quantity varies with the degree and duration
of the drought. .

Toward the close of along dry season, it is found so abun-

a

Australian Plants. 25

dant on the ground under the trees, that several pounds may
be collected by one person in a few minutes; but when rain
begins to fall, it melts, and disappears almost as rapidly as
snow.

It is worthy of remark, that this substance, manna, which
is reported as being so similar, as afforded by the Ash of
Europe and the Eucalyptus of Australia, and which has not
been found, possessing the same qualities, upon any other
species of plant, should yet appear to be an exudation of
two genera which differ so much in every other respect, and
are indigenous only in countries which are distant from each
other by nearly half the circumference of the globe; and it
deserves further notice, as being one of the few instances of
near coincidence in a substance where most of the produc-
tions of nature are so dissimilar.

26 M. Bonastre on some

ANCIENT PLANTS OF EGYPT.

A DIssERTATION ON SOME ANCIENT Piants oF Eeyrr. By
M. Bonastxr, Corresponding Member of the Medico-
Botanical Society of London. Translated from the French
by G. G. Siamonp, m.D., Secretary.

Every thing which tends to recall to our recollection the
sciences or the arts of ancient Egypt is sure to excite at the ~
present day, in the minds of the most enlightened men, the
highest esteem for its former inhabitants.

Since the important labours of Dr. Youne upon hierogly-
phics, and the learned discovery of M. Cuampo.uion the
younger, upon the interpretation of the hieroglyphic system
of ancient Egypt, the history of that country daily acquires a
higher degree of interest. There exists, nevertheless, a branch
of natural science highly essential, upon which we have but a
very imperfect idea, and that part is the botany of ancient
Egypt. ‘The Medico-Botanical Society of London having
honoured me with the title of corresponding member, I have
thought it my duty, as an expression of my gratitude, to
transmit a succinct memoir upon some vegetables found in
the interior of the coffins of Egyptian mummies of the
highest antiquity. I accompany this memoir with some
drawings which have been taken from nature; I also send
some ancient fruit.

The first is the fruit of the Mimusops, from pmove and ogic,
monkey face: Octandria Monogynia: family Saponacee of
JUssIEU.

This fruit is often met with in Egyptian tombs, conjointly
with the fig Sycamore, enclosed in a little basket variously
coloured. The Mimusops Elengi is a proof of the great vi-
cissitudes to which Egypt has been exposed; for this vege-
table has entirely disappeared from the soil. No botanical
work yet published upon that celebrated country makes
mention of the Mimusops Elengi; and I have in vain con-
sulted the Flora of Palestine, by Hasetqutst, that of Egypt
by Prosper ALPINUs, or that of Arabia by Forskuat, or the
illustration of the Flora of Egypt by DELILE: none of these
works indicate that the Elengi now actually exists in Egypt.
The Mimusops is only found in the island of Amboine, and
some of the isles of the Indian Ocean. Its flowers exhale a
most agreeable odour, which gives much pleasure to the
females of the country, who perfume their apartments
with it.

Ancient Plants of Egypt. 27

No.2. The Fruit Diospyros Lotus. Polygamia Diecia
Plaqueminier ; the Lotus.

The fruit of the Diospyros does not form part of the
Egyptian collection in the museum of the Louvre. It has
been recently discovered by M. Passa-Lacqua, and now
constitutes a part of the Berlin museum. M. Kunru, a
distinguished botanist, has decided that this fruit belongs to
the genus Diospyros, a species of lotus, which, I believe,
modern botanists refer to the genus Celtis of 'THropHrastus.

No. 3. Myrobalan d’Egypte, of Rauwotr; Balanites Egyptiaca,
Detitie, Fl. Egypte; Xymenia Egyptiaca, Desronraines;
El Eglyg, of the Arabs of Fazoql; £/ Ka, of the Heathens.
Decandria Monog. Terebintacee.

This ancient fruit was discovered in a little votive basket,
which had served to contain offerings to the gods of Egypt,
and it is frequently found in the coffins of mummies. ‘This
Myrobalan is furnished with a sort of spongy bark, more
or less thick; the pellicle which covers it in its state of anti-
on is of a red colour, sometimes shadowed with violet.

he stone is marked longitudinally, the sides forming five
to six rather saliant angles; the shell is rather thick; the
interior of the shell is filled by a kernel of a reddish brown
colour, containing a quantity of very fat oil, black, rancid,
and excessively acrid. The most marked character of this
Myrobalan of Egypt, and which distinguishes it from all the
other species, is a kind of spongy circle, placed at the point
of insertion of the pedunculus, and which surrounds this
0 like a little crown.

y investigation was directed to a very remarkable cir-
cumstance, which was, that the little basket that contained
the Myrobalan, contained also Myrrha and Bdellium, in
large fragments. Is this rencontre the effect of chance? or
is it an indirect indication that Myrrha and Bdellium are
produced from a vegetable of this genus? And what con-
tributes to add some weight to this supposition is, that several
druggists and apothecaries of my acquaintance have fre-
quently brought me the nuts of the Balanistes, which the
had found in cases of Bdellium, and which I have also myself
collected, in a similar way, among some recently imported.

My opinion on the Tree that produces the Myrrha and Bdellium,

Myrrha and bdellium are often found among the substances
that served for the process of embalming the ancient Egyp-
tians; and balanistes is found also among them. I have
sought to explain the origin of the word Myrobalanus, and I

28 M. Bonastre on some

have found that it was formed from two Greek words, muppas
myrrh, a perfume, and Baravoc, fructus-glans, fruit; as if they
had said, fruit or acorn of the tree that produces the myrrh,
or perfume.*

Tueopurastus, book ix. chap. iv., informs us that the
myrrh tree was certainly thorny: ¢doiov axavOusdn wat dv deiove
Now the Balanistes was thorny also.

The opinion of Bruce, who attributes the myrrh to a
species of Mimosa or Acacia, has long been looked upon as
an error, from the circumstance, as Dr. Duncan very judi-
ciously remarks, in the Edinburgh New Dispensatory, that
mimosas furnish but simple gum, and not the gum resin.

EHRENBERG announces that he has found, both in Nubia
and Arabia, a shrub from which he has frequently collected
myrrh, similar to the myrrh of commerce.

Nees von Esenseck has drawn this shrub from the speci-
mens introduced by Ehrenberg, and which present the gene-
ric features of Balsamodendrum, or the Amyris of Linnzus.
Nees calls it the Balsamodendrum Myrrha.

But I shall on this subject take the liberty of making an
observation similar to that of Dr. Duncan’s. The Amyris
Opobalsamum, or, as it would be better to call it, the Gilead
Balsamodendrum, will be found, on analysis, to produce but
pure resin; that is to say, resins or bastard balms, which are
perfectly soluble in alcohol and ether, and which do not
contain more gum than the produce of the mimosas would
resin. Besides, we know, from Puiiny and Dre TuHEvENot,
that the trees which produce the myrrh and the bdellium
were thorny, and that they grew in the same wood.

I have analysed a new species of myrrh that has been lately
imported, and find that it is composed of several principles,
as follow:

Analysis of a new Species of the Myrrh of Commerce.

Parts.

(nm, igolubile »: 4). +). «\famerte
SUMBOMIDLC. 7 (5. , pe tee ; a

Rosin, soluble, and subresin . 38

Oil, volatile, fluid MUR MA 50y bc:

A bitter extract, non-resinous . 4
Acid, not determined
Salt, potass base
chalk

Silica, adhering only

waa
Nn

100

* The most part of the other species of the fruit Myrobalanus should have a
similar etymology.

Ancient Plants of Egypt. 29

This species of myrrh does not differ much in its consti-
tuent parts from the ancient myrrh of Troglodytia; but a
very important remark, and one first made by myself, is that
real myrrh turns red, and even blue, on coming in contact
with nitric acid, placed under certain circumstances, which
does not happen with the new species.

We are no more acquainted with the tree that produces
the myrrh, than we are with the tree that produces the bdel-
lium; but having been frequently struck with the repeated
presence of the nuts of the Balanistes Egyptiaca with myrrh
and bdellium in ancient monuments, and especially in some
cases of bdellium recently imported into France, I have no
difficulty in supposing that these balanistes may furnish one
or the other of these two resinous gums. However, | do not
lean exclusively to this opinion; and, as the tree is thorny
according to Theophrastus, the presence of the fruit of the
balanistes may be accounted for by supposing it to have
fallen from some neighbouring tree, at the moment the Arabs
were collecting the crops of myrrh and of bdellium.

I relate this circumstance to prove to the Medico-Botanical
Society of London that I have already occupied myself with
the proposed question. I will also add, that on the depar-
ture for Egypt, in 1829, of the commission of French savans,
I gave the necessary instructions for procuring a specimen of
the tree that produces the real myrrh; but the labours of this
commission having been directed to objects of antiquity of
— another nature, I have not been able to obtain the in-
ormation. On the other hand, the French savans ascended
the Nile only as far as the second cataract; but it is in amuch
higher latitude, in a country much more dangerous to tra-
verse, that the tree grows which produces the real myrrh. I
possess on this subject some very circumstantial details.

No. 4 is the Fruit of the Rhamnus Lotus of the famed tree
of the Lotophagi.

The fruit of which, sweet as honey, had on foreigners the
effect of banishing the regret they felt for their country.
This fruit, as is well known, is a species of the Jujube tree,
Ziziphus Lotus, or may be that of Nabeca, which has an
extraordinary sweet taste: it is originally from Africa. ‘The
nut is hard, and rather of an elongated shape; the kernel has
become black, through the lapse of ages; its resemblance is
perfect. This species of lotos, rorogayov devdpor ¢, was found
ma small votive basket, full of offerings.

No. 5. Fruit of the Pine, Pinus Pinea.
It was discovered, as well as a cone of cedar of Lebanon,

30 M. Bonastre on some

(Cedrus Lebani,) in the catacomb of Thebes. These two fruits
form a part of the Egyptian museum at Paris: they are the
only two of the species that exist in an antique state.

No. 6, are Seeds of the Lepdium; err of Dioscor.

No. 7. The Grain or Seed of Mimusops Elengi.

No. 8. Corn; Triticum Aistivium; wvpac of HomeER.

This corn is a little better preserved, and was discovered
in a vase of red clay, which was enclosed in the tomb of an
agriculturist.

No.9. Barley; Hordeum distichum; xpioj, (from the same
tomb.)

No. 10. Raisins; Vitis vinifera, in a high state of preservation.

No. 11. Remains of a Crown or Garland, which I shall call
“« Demotique,” or Popular.

This garland was generally formed of leaves of some plant,
the genus of which it is difficult to determine, but it has some
relation to Unona Athiopica. The flowers are those of the
flowery capitules of the Mimosa nilotica. This kind of gar-
land encircled often the bodies of certain mummies from head
to foot.

No. 12. Date, of the Phenix Dactylifera.

No. 13. Arequier, or Fruit of a new Species of the Genus
Areca;

Called Areca Pane Lacque by M. Kunru, the botanist:
the living original is unknown.

No. 14. Lentilles de Peluse; Lens Pelusiaca.

This is the far-famed vegetable which is thought to be a
lineal descendant of the lentils, for a plate of which Esau
sold his birthright to Jacob. These lentils are of a much
smaller species than those at present used in France.

The lentils of Pelusium are at present cultivated in’ the
environs of this Egyptian city, in the neighbourhood of that
branch of the Nile called Pelusiad, and from which the
species derives its name. This vegetable is extremely diffi-
cult to naturalize in France. I send some to Mr. Humpury
Gisss, in order to make the experiment of raising them in
England; an experiment, the result of which I request he
will communicate to me at a future period.

No. 15. Another Leguminous Seed.

This seed, which I lately discovered in a small vase of clay,
is extremely rare. I have not been able to determine its
species: whether it is a Lathyrus, a Cicercula, or a species
of Trigonella, I am ignorant. ‘This seed is smooth, be-

Ancient Plants of Egypt. 31

cause it is deprived of the pellicle that surrounded it; it is of
an iron red colour.

Such are the objects of antiquity, the collection of which I
request the Medico-Botanical Society of London to accept as
a mark of my esteem and my gratitude.

I have the honour to be, with the most profound respect,
your very obedient, humble servant.

(Signed) BONASTRE.

Paris.

32 Mr. Bollaert on the

CHIRITMANOS OF PERU.

Some Account oF THE CHIRITMANOS OF PERU, AND OF THE
MEDICINES SOLD BY THEM. By Wm. Bo trarrt, Esq.,
Corresponding Member of the Medico-Botanical Society
of London.

Tue following remarks I submit to the notice of the Medico-
Botanical Society, not so much for their utility, as to shew
the state of medicine, and its practitioners, in some parts of
South America, and existing at the present time. During a
residence in Peru, [had opportunities of collecting information
relative to this class of people. The Chiritmanos are by some
called the travelling doctors of Peru, and are Indians of Upper
Peru, or (as it is now termed) Bolivia; their principal residence,
when at home, is denominated the Tungas, where they col-
lect the different herbs, seeds, roots, gums, &c. which gain
them a living, vending them, and giving advice upon the dif-
ferent diseases met with during their journeys. Their advice
and knowledge of diseases only extend to the remedies they
happen to have with them. Their remedies are but few, and
seem to be as well known (that is, their names and supposed
virtues,) to their customers as to themselves. Some idea
may be formed of the distances they travel, when it is stated
that they go from Upper Peru to Buenos Ayres, a distance
of more than two thousand miles, and they are to be met
with likewise all over the coast of Lower Peru; and these
journeys are chiefly performed on foot. At first starting,
several go together, with asses laden, and at certain points
they diverge, some taking one road, some another: at times
one only may be met-with, with a large wallet slung across
the shoulder, containing the remedies, each done up in a
little bag.

These Indians are of the middle size, of a dark copper co-
lour, rather coarse features, and what does not add to their
beauty is the continual chewing of the “Coca,” (leaves of
the Erythroxylon peruvianum, with a strong alkaline ash,)
which give to the teeth and mouth a dirty green colour, and
unpleasant smell. Their dress is composed of a coarse cotton
shirt, withouta collar; smallclothes, made wide behind ; a jacket
of coarse cloth, of the wool of the llama; sometimes stockings
are worn, but without feet; sandals of hide; a large brimmed
hat, of the wool of the llama or vicunna; the never-failing
and useful poncho; and, lastly, a little bag, for toasted Indian
corn, charqui, or dried beef, a few capsicums, and a gourd

Chiritmanos of Peru. : 33

_ for holding water: thusequipped, the Chiritmanos are ready for
a journey of any distance, and through any sort of country.
Their dress, once put on, very rarely comes off until worn out ;
and black is their favorite colour. Their language is one of
the aboriginal dialects, pretty well defined, and is termed
the Aymara; they understand Spanish, but some of them
speak it very indifferently. ‘They are not looked upon ge-
nerally, by the better-informed folk in large towns, as having
any pretensions to the knowledge of medicine, but there are
ased of them gum copal, gum thus, or incense, and some
other resinous bodies for the churches; alum, sulphur, and a
few such like things; but in the country, and villages retired
from populous towns, much credit and belief is given to their
Reelin: they sell them at moderate prices, and give advice
gratis. On a Chiritmano entering a town, it is soon known,
and in a short time he is surrounded; when for every malady
he has a cure, and for every sore a salve.
i From what I have seen of them, they seem perfectly to
___ understand their calling, and to be somewhat wiser than their
__-—s¢ustomers. ‘Their principal trade is in selling charms: these
are seeds, &c. perforated, and hung round the neck; their
stated virtues are many. The most useful article they might
bring from Upper Peru is the Peruvian bark: this would,
2 indeed, be of great service towards the coast, where agues of
avery bad cast are very common: indeed, in many of the
rovinces of Peru toward the south, the bark is hardly
hay Where it is known, it is given in powder, in large
doses, mixed with old wine, with repeated draughts of le-
monade, and certainly is a sovereign remedy.

These Chiritmanos sometimes perform the operation of
bleeding: this is done with a very rude sort of lancet, made
7 by fixing into a piece of wood a chip of glass, placing it on

; sthe vein, and giying it a nick with the forefinger and thumb
something like the instrument and method used in bleeding
horses,

The following are the names, &c. of most of the articles
that compose this travelling shop; and as to their utility, in
my attle opinion, all that can be said is, that they do little
good or harm; some of the medicines may have properties to
recommend them, if administered in proper doses, and by
experienced hands.

Jaco: bole, principally of oxide of iron.

Salvia ; for the ayre;: this is a term fora cold. The sub-
stance is either taken in decoction, or the leaves moistened with
saliva, and applied to the temples. It is a species of sage.

¥

34 Mr. Bollaert on the

Youruma ; bark of a tree, powdered, and taken as snuff in head-
ach.

Piedra Biscal: this seems to be some inert earthy body: it is
directed to be ground, and taken in warm water for the heartburn.

Quena Quena: seeds seemingly of a species of Annona: decoc-
tion of it used in headachs and tercianas, or agues.

Contrayerva; a species of Dorstenia: infusion in water given in
pains of the stomach.

Chacaire: given in pains of the sides; powdered, and taken in
warm water. This is the excrement of a bird called Coco.

Suelda con Suelda; ground into powder, and then fried in fat,
made into plasters for broken bones. It takes its name from the
Spanish word soldar, to mend or solder.

Huachanca; from a species of conyolvulus, probably Jalapa, is
used as a purgative. The dose is marked in the specimen.

Corro, or Curru; powdered, and mixed with fat and urine, used
to rub the bones when painful. Seems to be the steds in the seed-
vessels of a species of the Helicteres, or screw tree.

Charna; some little sticks, mixed at times with the above. (It
accompanies the foregoing.)

Venal; for bad eyes: the leaf is chewed, and the eyes anointed
with the saliva. The bad eyes, during the operation, must be
placed looking at the sun.

Colquemillo: this is alum; used in itch or pimples on the skin:
the parts affected first washed with urine, and then the alum, in
fine powder, sprinkled over them.

Chunchemuntana; for heartburn.

Ymale; for jaundice, powdered, and taken in water. Seems to
be a species of Veratrum. :

Raiz de la China, or Chinese root; used in gonorrhea, likewise
when the menses do not flow regularly: given as a decoction.

San Juanillo, or St. John; an agreeable bitter, chewed for
toothach.

Ointment of St. Peter; wax, grease, &c. The Chiritmanos say
several rare herbs enter into its composition.

Aceite de Maria, or Mary’s oil: a small quantity, used as a
plaster, applied to the navel of females, during childbirth, to give
easy labour.

Cebo de Utrunco; fat of a wild animal called the Utrunco,
rubbed round the waist of women in labour: said to facilitate it.

Parches; patches or plasters: these are of various materials,
but principally of leaves of favorite plants; sometimes the Coca,
Ivy, Venal, &c. These are moistened with saliva, and applied to
the temples in headachs, &c. At times some ointments are pre-
pared from the leaves with fat and wax.

Charms: these are of various descriptions, such as the false
nutmeg, Tairuvies, small red berries; another, a large black seed.
These worn, prevent people from colds and coughs. Loadstone, if
worn by either sex, ensures the love of those they are attached to;

“aa Chiritmanos of Peru. 35
d likewise to attract lovers. Another property is attributed to

this substance, that of keeping evil spirits from the wearer. There
e other charms against witches, ghosts, &c.; some against poison

_ Clysters are recommended in cases of stoppage in the bowels,
but of such dirty and useless substances that they need not be
mentioned here.

These are nearly all the remedies that compose the wallet,
or travelling ep. of the Chiritmano, and very few seem to

be of any real utility.
Pili

— 7 ae = a.

36 Dr. Hancock on

THE JURIBALI.

REMARKS ON THE JURIBALI, OR Eur1BaLt, (so called by the
Natives,) a Febrifuge Bark Tree of Pomeroon. By
Joun Hancock, m.D., Fellow of this Society, Honorary
Member of the Society of Arts of Scotland, &c.

Tuis tree is found in the forests not far distant from the coast.
It is small, seldom exceeding thirty feet in height, and eight or
ten inches in diameter at the base. It belongs to the eighth
class and first order of the sexual system of Linnzus, and to
the natural family of Meliacez of Jussieu. The calyx is very
small, of one leaf, entire. ‘The corolla consists of four pe-
tals, lance-ovate, white, spreading. The nectarium is a mo-
nophyllous, bell-shaped tube, eight-toothed, bloated or
inflate, bearing the stamina in its clefts or notches: this part
is described by several authors as the filaments united. ‘The
stamina are without filaments. The anthers are eight in
number, ovate, erect, seated upon the mouth of the necta-
rium. The germ is obtusely conic and pubescent. The
style is very short, bearing capitate, or rather coronate,
stigmata. The pericarpium is a capsule, ovate, one-celled,
trivalved, the valves bearing rudiments of septa at their
extremities: it contains a single seed, which is roundish,
black, crowned with a trifid wing, arillate on one side only;
it is veined, and resembles the nutmeg in shape, but is only
half its size, with a fleshy albumen and foliaceous cotyle-
dons. ‘The fiowers are numerous, on long, lax, divaricate
panicles.

Nature has distinguished this tree in a very remarkable
manner ; for it may be truly said to bear two distinct kinds of
leaves, the stipules being, at certain seasons, so developed as
to be not unfrequently confounded with the common leaves
of the tree, but are distinguished by their shape and position.
They are placed in pairs, and scattered along the branches;
ear shaped or rounded and varied, obtuse and petiolate.

The common, or proper leaves, are alternate, oblong,
pointed; they are scattered, without much order, on the
branches; the petioles are short, compressed, and channelled.
The bark is rough and gray externally, and, on peeling it
from the tree, the epidermis scales off, and leaves the true
bark of a smooth red surface. Its odour is peculiar, some-
what like that of tea-leaves. The wood of the trunk is dense
and whitish; that of the branches somewhat coloured, and

the Juribali, 57

traversed by a pith in the centre. The seed, crowned with
a foliaceous appendage, corresponds with that of the first
tribe, Melieze, of De Candolle; in other respects, to his se-
cond tribe, Trichiliez.*

In respect to the calyx (being quite entire), it seems
unique, as all the others of the order are divided or dentate.
The structure of the flower, in all other respects, is strictly
_ conformable to the order Meliacez; whilst, in the fruit, (a
single-seeded capsule,) it agrees with very few of them: in
one species only, Trichilia moschata, we observe it noted

oa, submonospermis.

_ ‘The most remarkable disparity, however, seems to be in the
resence of stipule, which have hitherto in no instance

ar ebieered in this order.

The Juribali, therefore, will be found, I presume, to con-
_ stitute a distinct genus from any yet described: it so appears,
at least, by comparing it with the forty-fourth order in De
Candolle’s Prodromus. The admirable arrangement, con-
ciseness, and precison of this work enables us, at one glance
almost, to observe the actual state of the science, so far as it
goes, and, when completed, it will furnish an invaluable trea-
sure to the botanist.:

The bark of the Juribali gives a deep and lively red colour
to water and spirit, in both of which its virtues are very soluble.
It is a very potent bitter and astringent; in these qualities
much exceeding the Peruvian bark, and will often be found
to succeed after the latter has failed to remove an intermittent.
I have commonly employed it in about half the quantity
I should do for a corresponding dose of the Peruvian bark,
_ to which, in fevers of a malignant and typhoid nature, it ap-
— to be far superior. Notwithstanding its astringency, it
oes not, like Peruvian bark, constipate the bowels or affect
the head, but generally opens the pores of the skin and pro-
motes diaphoresis. ‘Io render it still more effectual, it
should be taken warm.

More than one fourth the weight of this bark is soluble in
water, whilst, according to Fabroni’s experiments, the cin-
chona yields but about one sixth or one eighth. The active
principle appears to be readily soluble in aqueous menstrua,
and is therefore taken with much more facility than an inso-
luble woody mass, which passes the throat with difficulty and

;

a

* The learned author has this remark on the order Meliacew: “Ordo non
definitus et forsan typos plurimos diversos colligius sed ob descriptiones

m generum maneas, in statu scientiw presenti extricatu difficillimus et
heritis commendandus,” Pars i. p. 619.

38 Dr. Hancock on

disgust, and often lies a heavy indigestible load on the sto-
mach. Such considerations may one day appear of more im-
portance than at present, when the prevailing infatuations
respecting quinine and the new alkaloids shall have subsided,
and given place to the exercise of sober reason and the exa-
mination of new doctrines by careful experiment.

I shall here notice the results of a few chemical experi-
ments made on this bark, although I must confess I consider
their action to be of very little consequence in elucidating the
medicinal powers of any vegetable remedy. Gelatin forms
with the infusion a precipitate of a reddish brown colour.
Emetic tartar, nitrates of silver and mercury, acetates of lead
and of alumina, all throw down precipitates of a light yellow
colour ; sulphate of copper affords a gray, and sulphate of iron
a greenish blue precipitate. ‘The carbonates of potash and
soda render the infusion red brown, but form no precipitate.
Lime water first renders the infusion green, then deep red,
and throws down a copious precipitate of the same colour.

These experiments were made for the sake of comparison,
consecutively with others, on infusions of cinchona of more
marked sensible qualities, but which I could not refer with
any certainty to their species. The results were in some
cases similar, in others widely different in respect to the ac-
tion of reagents; i.e. on the infusion of the Juribali and the
cinchonas.

The recent decoction or infusion is of a red colour, but re-
mains turbid forsome days. After infusing it for two or three
weeks, it gradually assumes a deep red tinge, more transparent,
having deposited a flocculent sediment. In this state it gives
a durable red colour to stuffs, and precipitates the infusion of
galls, which the recent infusion does not.

It hence seems to be probable that, by a combination, or
through some slight acidity, the infusion possesses the power
of dissolving an alkaline principle, perhaps cinchonine, which
is not taken up by pure water, or at least is not indicated in
the recent infusion. It might be interesting to ascertain if
the sulphuric or muriatic acids would evolve an alkaloid
similar to those which are found in certain species of the genus
cinchona.

The bark contains a resinoid extractive, which is soluble in
boiling water, but not in cold; the decoction, therefore, be-
comes turbid on cooling, and gradually deposits a red powder.
This deposit is soluble in alcohol, and appears to be a simple
resin, and not the active principle of the bark; it is insipid
when washed in cold water. From this, and some other expe-

the Juribali. 39

riments, I concluded that co/d water took up the active parts
as well as hot.

This bark not only cures intermittent fevers, but remittents,
also those of a typhoid malignant kind, and those destructive
fevers in which the cinchona often does more harm than good.
In some measure it emulates rhubarb, being cordial and
purgative according to the dose; it is also a powerful dia-
_ phoretic, especially if taken warm, by which its value is cer-
tainly much enhanced as a febrifuge. I have used it in agues
and in the malignant remittent fevers of the tropics, very
freely, with the most decisive success, always in the form of
infusion, commencing at any time or stage of the fever that
may be present. By infusing an ounce of the bark in a
quart of hot water, and giving a glassful once in two or three
_ hours, I think it bids fair to be a useful remedy in smallpox
_ and measles.

In a few instances the pulse seemed to be accelerated after
its use, but was generally rendered slower and fuller; but I
__ never ascertained the conditions of the patients under which
these different effects took place, to my own satisfaction.
Before quitting the present subject, I beg leave to allude to
an opinion which has long prevailed in my mind, and which
may be a novel one, or may not; but I have never heard or
seen it adverted to, and, if correct, it may be worthy the candid
consideration of the members of this Society and the profession
at large.

We must all admit the great value and important advantages
derived from the Peruvian bark in the practice of medicine.

It is chiefly in fevers that its uses are to be regarded as pa-
ramount: but let us consider how far it is entitled to such
unlimited encomiums as a febrifuge. It is certainly excellent
‘a8 a tonic, and, as such, is applicable in the treatment of very
many disorders. It affords one of the most eflicient means of

: suspending the returns of the common intermittents. I say
_ ¢ommon, because, in the very malignant and bilious intermit-
tent fevers of warm countries at least, often met with, it does
more harm than good ; and in the ardent, typhoid, and remit-
_ tent fevers, and where most danger lies, we find its uses to
be the most equivocal, and not unfrequently to produce a
fatal metastasis on the brain: and in such fevers, those of the
most dangerous tendency, it is rarely prescribed till the fever
has subsided, when the skin has become moist, the tongue
cleaning, sediment in the urine, &c., before the main remedy
be exhibited; and thus the time must be frittered away
expectancy, whilst the disease is making its inroads, until it

40 Dr. Hancock on

has worn itself out, and the principle of life perhaps along
with it.* When debility is the chief symptom prevailing, and
when, in most cases, the danger is actually over, the bark is
thrown in, and gets the merit of the cure! Under this view,
therefore, it seems to me that its uses are not so strictly what
its title of febrifuge imports. Itis not so much to drive away
the fever as to prevent its recurrence, when nine times in ten
dangerous remittent fevers will not recur after once coming
to acrisis. A real and genuine febrifuge, I should conceive,
is that which not only braces the nerves as a preventive, but
which is capable of driving away or taking off the febrile pa-
roxysm. Such is the true meaning I should attach to a fe-
brifuge or an anti-febrile remedy and as such I conceive the
remedy here recommended to be. But I shall leave the
subject to the examination of better qualified judges.

This is, as before mentioned, but a small tree; there is ano-
ther which grows very large, often confounded under the
same name by the Arowaks: it is the Icica Altissima of
Aublet. The remarkable large stipula, however, distinguishes
the right kind most readily from every other tree which
might otherwise resemble it; the scaly cuticle is also a good
mark of distinction.

My experience is chiefly confined to its use in fever, but it
may doubtless be regarded as a general tonic, and applicable,
perhaps, in most cases as a substitute for the cinchona; ex-
ternally it is found to be a very useful application to foul and
ill-conditioned ulcers, either in powder or decoction.

There is another tree of the inland parts, called Caramata
and Arumari by the natives, which affords likewise a very
valuable remedy, a very bitter bark, which, from many trials I
have made in those cases, appears to be equally safe and effi-
cacious in those dangerous typhoid and remittent fevers in
which the cinchona is either useless or pernicious, especially
when exhibited during the febrile excitement. Being partial
to the combination of similar remedies, I have in a few in-
stances, when both happened to be at hand, infused the two
barks (Juribali and Caramata) together, half an ounce of each,
grossly powdered, to a quart of boiling water, giving the pa-
tient a wineglassful of the infusion, kept warm before the
fire, once in two to four or six hours, according to the urgency
of the case, and it has appeared to me to operate in this way
with uncommon efficacy: but no one person singly is fit to

* Our profession has given too much reason for the satire of Voltaire, when
he remarks, that “Nature cures diseases, and the physician assumes the
credit.”

the Juribali. 41

decide upon the positive or comparative merits of a new re-
medy; and I shall, with great pleasure, submit these two
medicinal barks, for further proofs and experiments, to the
learned members of this Society, together with some imperfect
botanical specimens of the trees from which they are procured ;
and, being soon to return to British Guiana, shall not fail to
forward to the Society sufficient supplies* for making the re-
quisite trials of their virtues, being fully convinced that no
institution can afford such advantages as the Medico-
Botanical Society for proving and fully investigating all the
details which are requisite for the complete development of
the powers of new remedies, and for deciding on their real or
imaginary virtues.

It is only necessary to look at the assemblage at one of the
general meetings, or at a list of the members of this Society,
to be convinced of the truth of the remark which I have just
made. We there behold a phalanx of talent, of the first
order of botanists, chemists, physiologists, and the votaries
of general science, combining their powers for the purpose of
forwarding objects of the most vital importance to our species.
To all these facilities are added the great paramount advan-
tage, that many of the learned members, physicians and
general practitioners, besides an extensive private practice, are
connected with hospitals where numerous patients are under
immediate inspection, affording altogether the most adequate
means of instantly submitting any remedy to the test of clinical
a

t might perhaps be considered invidious to designate any
of the eminent members in support of my assertions, I ma
however observe that I could mention very many names cal-
culated to bestow celebrity, and to strengthen the great and
worthy cause in which this Society is engaged. It is sufficient
here to mention that the distinguished presidents of the College
of Physicians, and of the College of Surgeons, are amongst
the number, as well as many others, scarcely less eminent,
and, without disparagement, we may say of equal talents. If
the old adage, borrowed from the Reg be true “in union
is strength, we can scarcely wish for a better assurance of
prosperity, and especially whilst the Society has the further
guarantee of success, from the exertions of so zealous, learned,
and distinguished a nobleman as presides over it and at present
guides the helm; who, without professing the Aesculapian art,

* Lhave been extremely disappointed of these, and numerous other inte-
resting articles, which were promised to be forwarded from the same quarter,
during my abode in England,

G

42 Dr. Hancock on the Juribali.

is yet deeply read in it, and especially attached to the much
neglected, but most important, department of medical botany,
and, although not a medical practitioner, yet a practiser of
charity, and, I may add, a real friend to the poor and a patriot
of his country.

Some may imagine that this is irrelevant to our subject, but
I entertain a different opinion. ‘The objects we should hold
ourselves pledged to maintain are, and I hope ever will be,
the charitable purposes of aiding the poor, and of turning the
bounties of nature to the relief of human suffering.

45

INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

Inaugural Address, delivered at a Meeting of the Medico-
Botanical Society of London, held February \6th, 1831;
Paice Henry Eart Strannore, President, in the chair.
By Giserr T. Burnert, Professor of Botany to the
Society, and Lecturer in the School of Physic, St. George's
Hospital, &c. &c. &e.

MY LORD PRESIDENT, AND GENTLEMEN:

As circumstances vary the relations in which men stand, the
duties are varied they are destined to perform. Each step
advanced, each height attained, as it expands their influ-
ence, in an equal degree extends their care. Posts of honour
are not posts of ease, but are regarded in their truest light
when they are viewed as stations of responsibility; and before
attempting to fulfil the duties of such stations, all, who sin-
cerely desire to discharge them with credit and profit to
themselves and others, should endeavour clearly to under-
stand their nature, and to become fully impressed with their
importance. Since, therefore, being called to this honourable
chair, | have laboured (not wholly, it is hoped, with fruitless
effort,) to inform myself as to what must be required of the
Professor of Botany to the Medico-Botanical Society; an
office of no mean rank, in a Society of no mean importance:
a Society, the bare mention of whose objects must immedi-
ately challenge our attention and regard, directed, as its
exertions are, to the philosophic investigation of the distinc-
tive characters and medicinal properties of plants; a know-
ledge by which, when fully gained, the power of physic will
be much increased, and pain disarmed of half its terrors, by
which ( Deo volente /) the life of man may be much prolonged,
and human misery may much be lessened.

As the avowed objects for which this Society was insti-
tuted, and the laws by which the Council govern, alike pre-
clude all dissertations on purely botanical researches, topics
upon which a botanic mind luxuriates, points upon which it
loves to expatiate; of course, all comments on the laws of life
affecting the development of the vegetable structure; all
remarks on the wonderful metamorphoses, both regular and
irregular, transitional and vicarious, which plants continually
pass through; all disquisitions on the vital functions of these
simplest organic beings; the assimilation of their food; the
production of their peculiar principles; the reproduction of
their species; their irritability; their seeming instincts; with

44. Professor Burnett’s

many, many other curious and _ interesting physiological
themes, though pregnant with information and replete with
wonder, are all alike forbidden here. Botany being, to the
Medico-Botanical Society, but one among several means by
which it proposes to advance an ulterior object; hence, I
must confess that my favorite study must not be allowed
undue preponderance, and I submit to the decision, that,
although a means, it is not here an end; it is one way to the
science here held in view, (and a delightful flowery path it
is,) but that it must not be mistaken for the goal itself.

Therefore, as these favorite topics would be here irrele-
vant, to a not less important, though less entrancing section
must our attention at this present be directed, to one
subdivision of one section of this extensive science, viz.
Economic Botany; whence I shall be led to discuss the uses
and properties of vegetables, more especially of medicinal
plants, and medicinal preparations. Hence, in order not to
wander from my province, and hoping to be set right by the
Council if I greatly err, is it that 1 have resolved, in this my
inaugural address, to trace, as it were in outline, the pro-
gress of medico-botanical science; for thus will be most
clearly seen, not only the benefits it has bestowed upon
mankind,—for thus will be most certainly foreshown, not
only the blessings it has still in store, but also, from this
conspectus of what has been already done, we shall be di-
rected to what there remains for us to do: directed to that
course which may most advantageously be pursued, and
encouraged in those researches by which, in conjunction with
his colleagues, the professor of botany may hope most effi-
ciently to serve the ends, most rapidly to advance the objects,
of your Society: for he feels, acutely feels, that, as an office
is honourable, so, in an equal degree, does responsibility
attach to him that holds it.

Gentlemen: As long as the human race have been subject
to disease, as long as pain has been an evil, so long must
means of alleviation have been sought, and so long must
medicines have been prescribed and used. Rude, indeed,
were the early essays of our art, and long must they have
continued rude: the morning twilight of physic has been for
ages dawning into perfect day; comparatively, it is not long
since men, ignorant alike of the indications to be observed,
and of the instruments by which those indications might be
fulfilled, prescribed scarlet clothes for fever, because they
both were red, and saffron for jaundice, on account of its
yellow hue.

Much lately has been done in the investigation of diseases,

=

ie

Inaugural Address. 45

their causes, their symptoms, and their effects; pathological
anatomy has sect #7 many of the changes which various
structures undergo, some of which morbid conditions impair
the energies, and others are incompatible with the duration
of life. But what avails it that the physician can trace by
symptoms the successive stages of disorganization, as they
proceed in structures concealed from view? what avails it
that the surgeon can proclaim the appearance of such mor-
bid alterations long before dissection unfolds them to the
light? what avails it that both can foretell the impairment or
destruction of vital parts, without they can at the same time
learn to check the ravages of disease, and either to alleviate
the sufferings of the patient or to afford him a perfect cure?
Without such an application of this art, the means of obtain-
ing it would to many be repulsive, and the science itself not
a blessing, but a bane; as the foreknowledge of ills that
could not be relieved would but aggravate the misery man is
called on to endure. But such is not the opprobrium of our
useful, and hence noble arts; for the theory of physic is
founded on experience, and the benefits of its practice who
can venture to deny! As sciences, medicine and surgery find
few their equals; and as arts they are excelled by none.
Much, | repeat, has been lately done to advance our
knowledge of disease, and something, though much less, to
perfect our instruments of cure. ‘These, however, are sister
sciences, or rather their connexion is of a still closer kind:
they are twins, which, as they are naturally, so for ever they
should remain inseparably conjoined; and for the Medico-
Botanical Society, whose attention is especially directed to
this point, has the grateful task been left of perfecting this
union: on it devolves the duty of steadying the arm of
science, and placing surer weapons in her hands; i. e. of
providing for physic new and more certain remedial means.
A circumstance which still shrouds medicine in mystery,
must have been formerly much more perplexing than we find it
now, Even, however, in the present day, it frequently involves
the principles of our practice in obscurity; and hence some
persons, ignorant of how many cases there are in which it ap-
proaches demonstration, have not scrupled to call: physic a
conjectural science; to define its object to be the calculation
of chances, and its decision the balance of probabilities. I,
of course, allude to the acknowledged difficulty of determin-
ing how far a cure should be attributed to the renovating
powers of life, and how far to the remedial agents which art
employs: for some diseases, and especially in some constitu-
tions, will disappear not only without, but even in spite of the

46 Professor Burnett's

physician; whilst others, in other persons, or even in the
same person at other times, not the most consummate skill can
cure. Of this, the records of legitimate practice would afford
us abundant illustrations; but the empirical artifices of the
present day form still more familiar examples: to these I shall
not particularly allude: some will Jong be notorious beacons.

From these sources of error, many useless, many nauseous,
and not a few noxious, agents have, from time to time, been
introduced, several of which have enjoyed an ill-earned fame;
while some really efficient medicines have as undeservedly
fallen into disrepute. Hence, likewise, can we account for
many of those superstitious rites, anciently so mixed up with
medicine as to have been esteemed an essential part thereof.
Few persons will take the trouble of distinguishing the post
from the propter; and, even to those who would, the power
is oft-times wanting. A mind, patient in observation, and
well disciplined to distinguish truth from error, does not com-
monly coexist with that instinct (shall I call it almost blind
instinct,) for generalization, by which theories are planned,
and systems raised. Allow an example to illustrate this ab-
stract proposition.

Achilles, writes the poet, escaped unhurt, though long
exposed to all a warrior’s danger, (and so did others of the
Grecian force, and so do many others in every hostile meet-
ing;) Achilles at last was slain by an arrow which transfixed
his heel, (and so have many others fallen by wounds in some
especial parts, whether in the head, the hand, the heel, for
weapons to each victim are not omnipresent;) but Achilles
had been bathed by Thetis, (and so by most parents have
their sons been washed ;) yet it is fabled that the heel by
which his mother held him was the only part unwetted; that
heel, itis said, was pierced; and hence arose the fame of the
antivulneriferous waters of the Styx. ‘‘ Post ergo PROPTER
balneum salus.”

Again, in times of general sickness, the Romans, with
solemnity, elected a Dictator, for the especial purpose (and
that alone) of driving a nail into the temple of Jupiter, and
when afterwards the pestilence decreased, post ergo propter
malleum salus.

Just as, at the present time, in countries where the plague
prevails, an angel is believed to cast a drop of water on the
earth, on the festival of St. John, after which day the plague
is stayed, and to which the restoration of salubrity is attri-
buted, rather than to the actual cause, viz. the great increase
of heat that then ensues, and which is incompatible with its
duration.

Inaugural Address. 47

Again, honey was employed in ancient times, as still it is,
as a useful application to relieve aphthous eruptions in the
mouth and fauces; but then the relief obtained was attributed
not immediately to the mean employed, but intermediately to
an extraneous coincidence foreign to its nature, and only there-
with fortuitously connected; i. e. the cure was ascribed by
Soranus, who records a case in point, not to the honey, as
honey, but to the accidental circumstance of that honey, which
wrought the cure he mentions, having been procured from
bees that had hived near Hippocrates’ tomb.

Thus when men prescribed medicines, of the properties of
which there was little known, for diseases, of the pathology
of which they knew much less, it cannot be surprising
that, although sometimes, perchance, they might assist re-
covery, more frequently they would do no good; and not
uncommonly they would do much harm. Still, such was the
perverseness of superstition, such the obtuseness of her
votaries, that, whenever recovery ensued after the adminis-
tration of any remedial means, were it either independent,
or even in spite, of its effects, the cure was immediately
attributed thereto; and when, as oftentimes occurred in
cases of real disease, (although many slight or supposititious
ailments would occasionally disappear during the exhibition,)
it failed to cure or to relieve, some trifling variation in
attendant circumstances, such as the mode or hour of admi-
nistration or collection, or some such other trifling irregula-
vo not only foreign but impertinent to the question, was

erred to as the source of failure: and hence arose many
of those superstitious rites which figure so strangely in the
medical records of antiquity. Thus, if, as we are told, the
vervain cured the falling sickness in one individual, and in
another failed; i. e. if after its administration one individual
got better, and another worse, and if it was observed, or even

ancied, that the latter had gathered the herb with his right
hand, and the former with his left, this supposed ceremonial
irregularity was esteemed a sufficient cause of failure; and
hence arose the dogma that vervain should be gathered with
the left hand only; but when, as could not but occur, of the
left hand gatherers, some recovered and others died, further
sources of disappointment were invented, and any thing was
doubted rather than the potency of the plant when charmed ;
such as the time, the previous incantations, and other such
like matters. But, in spite of all precautions, failures still
ensued, and as fast as failures multiplied, so fast increased
the ceremonials likewise, until at length we learn that the
vervain was to be gathered with the left hand only, libations

48 Professor Burnett's

of honey being previously poured out, and after the plant
had been encompassed with a circle: it was to be done like-
wise at the rising of the dog-star, and when neither the sun
nor the moon shone. Again, the Selago was to be reyerently
approached with the feet bare, yet never to be touched with
the naked hand. But, not to add instance to instance, for
here the increase of examples is not required, the mistletoe,
or all-health of the Druids, may be at once referred to, as a
most remarkable and familiar illustration, and one, the par-
ticulars of which, without repetition, will be present to the
memory of all.

When subsequently, as could not but occur, some refrac-
tory patients refused to take the nauseous doses which fraud
and superstition had prescribed, and still, in spite of their
presumption and irreverence, recovered, then the ceremonial
observances of the friends or the attendants received the
credit which had previously been given to the drug, and cer-
tain rites became esteemed as charms for the cure of persons
sick, and for the preservation of those in health. Hence
votive tablets and incantations sprang; in truth, a vast improve-
ment in the art of physic; for, during these ritual observances,
nature was allowed to effect a cure unimpeded by the inter-
ference of ignorant pretenders. ‘The cure of wounds by
sympathy forms of this a celebrated example; for thus the
noxious dressings became applied to the weapon, instead of
to the wound, which modest nature in the mean time
healed; while incantations and sympathetic unguents gained
the credit: to them, however, much praise was due, for
the time they afforded to the vis medicatrix to effect a
cure.

But were all the therapeutic agents, so famed in former
times, utterly ineflicient towards the recovery of health? Cer-
tainly not: far from it. But the principle of their adminis-
tration was woefully misunderstood; and, consequently, the
means themselves capriciously and often ineffectually applied.
For who doubts the efficacy of hygeian springs, or the reco-
very of the sick who journey in quest of health to Hippocrates’
tomb? Who doubts the history of strength restored to pious
pilgrims, when abstinence and exercise (the sanative princi-
ples of the ‘‘ ball of basilisk”) were necessarily attendant on
their visits to distant shrines. For one, I doubt not. I be-
lieve implicitly that many did not recover; that many were
relieved; that many were restored to perfect health: just as
[ implicity believe a journey (call it, if you please, a pil-
grimage,) to Cheltenham, to Harrowgate or Bath, to Madeira,
the south of France or Italy, the change from a London to a

Inaugural Address. 49

country life, a necessity for exertion, more early hours, and
often some slight abstinence in food, or a total change of diet,
will even now, and in these degenerate days, do much towards
checking the progress of disease, much towards the recovery
of health. To be sure, the principles of the prescription are
not similar, although both the agents and the patients are
much the same. Nomina as well as Tempora mutantur, sed
nos non mutamur ab illis.”

We smile at the recital of the superstitions and credulity
of a former age, and we do well: though we little think that
our smiles too often condemn ourselves: for how little do we
yet know of the nature of the instruments we frequently
employ for the cure of disease, and how very little of the

nature of disease itself. I say not this invidiously, for much |

in both departments has been lately done; but this increase
of light only the more strongly shows how very much more
there remains for us to do, Still this is a subject rather of
congratulation than despair; it is rather our incitement than
disgrace.

xperimental study, supplanting mere speculative philo-
sophy, has worked miracles on every side; and in no science
has it wrought more wonders than in our own. Experiment is
the key by which we have been already able to translate so
many passages fromthe book of nature into our mother tongue,
and by which we hope to be enabled to construe many more.
But because much has been lately done, therewith shall we
rest content?—forbid the unworthy thought; for contentment.
too often is allied to sloth, and sloth is the bane of science.
Our predecessors have been our pioneers; they have cleared
away from the entrance to the temple of ‘Truth much of the
accumulated rust of ages. We now no longer hear of the royal
touch being efficacious in the cure of scrofula; although once,
in this very town, a philosopher (who lived, as we might say,
before his age,) was tried, found guilty, and severely pu-
nished, for doubting the efficacy of this repellent. eno
longer hear of those disgusting tales of females crowding to
the gallows’ foot, to have unsightly tumors rubbed with an
executed felon's hand; and their necks, by the officiating
hangman, smeared with perspiration wrung from a fellow-
creature in the agonies of death. No longer are our Dispen-
satories disgraced by the enumeration of ‘‘ manus regalis” et
manus hominis mortui” as remedial means. Yes: our Dis-
pensatories have been much purified of late, and medicines
no longer are prescribed merely because they are nauseous;
nor things now given to a man when sick which would dis-
order his system even in the most perfect health. General

ul

50 Professor Burnett’s

observations are, however, tedious: let them be changed for
an example. Among the much valued vegetable medicines of
the century before the last, was mouldiness, or mildew: not
simply mould, not that which springs on decaying wood, or
bread, or meat, or cheese, but mouldiness scraped from a
human skull. This drug even stands in the catalogue of
materia medica published by the London Royal College of
Physicians a. D. 1618, as “‘ usnea cranii humani,” which shows
how much it was esteemed; for the College have ever striven,
as far as the prejudices of the age would let, to discard all
useless articles, and to march, though with discretion, not
hardihood, in the van of science. Again, the urine and the
excrement of various animals were formerly much esteemed:
and of each we find extensive lists recommended officially to
notice. Much of the supposed efficacy of drugs seems once
to have been attributed to the filthiness of the sources whence
they were derived: thus, although carbonate and phosphate
of lime are excellent absorbent earths, and exhibited with much
benefit in many cases of cardialgia, diarrhoea, and other com-
plaints, still a simple chalk mixture would have been formerly
despised; while one of album grecum would have been swal-
lowed with avidity. Now album grecum, it is all but need-
less to observe, was only an impure bone earth, not obtained
from the laboratory of the chemist, but elaborated in the in-
testines of the dog. For the preparation of this precious
drug, dogs were purposely all but starved, well-picked bones
being their only food; and then, the gelatine of the bones
being partly absorbed during the passage of this osseous
matter through the alimentary canal, the earthy portions were
evacuated in a half-blanched and semi-pulverulent condition:
this excrement was then collected with a jealous care, and
became the album grecum of the shops, highly prized as a
discutient, and forming a favorite internal application to the
throat in quinzies. I will not waste your valuable time in
further disquisitions on this subject, although it is a point of
curious interest to trace the progress of the art we study, and
highly useful sometimes to unravel the absurd intricacies of
those who loved to make medicine a greater mystery than it
ever will inevitably be; for thus do we in our minds enhance
the estimation of that unsophisticated and simple nomen-
clature which signalizes the age, and with which science now
in general is blessed: and we shall ever value more this stri-
ving after perspicuity, even if it fail, when we contemplate
the obscurity in which all subjects were at one time purposely
involved; names being given to things apparently rather to
conceal than to explain their nature, although sometimes, as

——

Inaugural Address. 51

in the agua omnium florum, there was an oracular latent wit-
ticism which fails not to provoke a smile; for, says Baitey,
“aqua omnium florum” means (among chemists) the distilled
water of cows’ dung, when cows go to grass. But of this
enough : one sample of such precious balms may well suffice.
An imperfect knowledge of the essential properties of me-
dicines, especially of the vegetable materia medica, has
always led, as still it does, and as long as it exists must ever
lead to complicate our prescriptions, to cripple our resources,
and to confuse our principles of practice. Formerly this was
much more prevalent than it can be now; but, even in the
present age, I doubt not that great and unneeded complexity
remains, though as yet it may be hidden from our eyes. Each
succeeding year long has tended to simplify and curtail our
catalogues of drugs; and each succeeding year, it may be
easily foretold, will tend to simplify and curtail them more.
1 could point out many instances, both ancient and modern, in
which agents, similar in effect, if not identical in composition,
r many times under different denominations, their names

being the points in which they differ most. How many mere
varieties of carbonate and phosphate of lime do we even now
admit, merely because they are derived from different
sources, and how much more numerous were they in the age
before the last, when all drugs were considered essentially
distinct whenever the substances were distinct from which
they were obtained. I have chosen this purely chemical
illustration because chemistry has lately thrown so much light
on medicine, and promises to shed much more, and its re-
searches are far more complete in the constitution of inor-
ganic than of organic nature. Indeed, we are at present
unable to determine, in the vegetable department, how far
many of our most costly drugs may be entirely dispensed
with, as many have already been. How many mere va-
rieties of expensive astringents, bitters, aromatics, &c. do we
not now employ, when more than a reasonable doubt may be
entertained as to whether, as in the instance referred to, their
truly efficient principles may not be extracted from cheaper
materials and more abundant sources: of this we have already
proved the practicability in several important cases. Thus,
the scartnowt i alkali, our sub-carbonate of potash, was at one
time possessed of numerous names, and appeared and re-
appeared over and over again in the Dispensatory; and yet,
at each repetition, seems to have been considered a new and
independent drug. ‘Thus, we find it introduced under the
me and titles of Sal Absinthii, or salt of wormwood, Centaurii
ris, Cichorii, Euphrasiw, Fabarum, Fumariew, Geniste,

52 Professor Burnett’s

Herbarum, Plantaginis, Plantarum, Querctis, Tartari, and
many others, as each vegetable was considered to afford a
peculiar salt: while, in truth, none of them differ essentially
from each other, the only variation being in their relative
degrees of impurity; so that the terms Sal vegetabilis, or Sal
plantarum yel herbarum, would conveniently include the
whole. And yet, even now, or very lately, as I have been
credibly informed, some persons will give a quadruple or quin-
tuple price for Sal absinthii, an impure subcarbonate of pot-
ash, obtained from wormwood, to what they will for the same,
but more pure and valuable drug, derived from common and
less costly sources.

This is but a solitary example, yet it may serve to illustrate
the whole.

Shall I add a further illustration, oxalic acid, if procured
alone from the plants whence sprang its name, (Oxalis aceto-
sella, corniculata, &c.) would be a very expensive drug: even
when at first, under the appellation Acidum sacchari, it was
formed by the destruction of sugar, it was, within my recol-
lection, sold in this town at 3s. 6d. and 4s. per ounce; but
now it may be bought at the manufacturing chemists for
about half that sum per pound.

Probably a like fortune awaits many of the proximate prin-
ciples, in modern times discovered, and still considered to be
distinct. Thus, Colchicum is doubtless a useful medicine,
though fashion has somewhat enhanced its fame, while
Gratiola, the old Gratia Dei, and Veratrum album, or white
hellebore, have completely fallen into disuse, if not into dis-
repute; and yet the active principle is in all the same, and
might, if extracted from either, be indifferently used, and
with equal advantage and effect. May not this indicate the pro-
priety of extracting veratria from hedge hyssop, or veratrum,
where those plants abound, rather than from the expensive
colchicum? ‘These instances must likewise indicate the ad-
vantages likely to accrue from an intimate acquaintance with
the proximate principles of vegetables, when we may find our
active agents, not in one situation only, but recognize them
in many, and seek them wherever they may be most abun-
dantly present, or most easily be found.

I fear that an accumulation of the evidence of how much
is wanted to be known on the points which this Society
has proposed as the objects of its chief inquiry, might
weary the attention of the meeting. I will, therefore, add
but one example more. ‘The value of Peruvian bark is
by all acknowledged, and it is likewise known to every
one that there are many species of Cinchona, differing in

Inaugural Address. 53

their efficacy and worth. Of these, three are admitted
into our London Pharmacopeeia; viz. Cinchona lancifolia,
or lance-leaved cinchona, affording the pale brown bark;
C. oblongifolia, or oblong-leaved cinchona, yielding the red
bark; and C. cordifolia, or heart-leaved cinchona, which
gives the yellow bark. Now, of these three, it is well known
that the lancifolia, or quilled bark, has in general been,
by the profession, the most esteemed; still the oblongifolia,
or red bark, has not been without its SOE Si anaes

pularly, it was so highly prized that, in the markets, it
Sahl Dnialodally fetch threefold the price of brown, and
six times as much as the yellow, or heart-leaved species, which
was comparatively slighted both by the profession and the
public. Perhaps, the scarcity of the red bark contributed
something to its high estimation, as the relative abundance of
the yellow not improbably increased its disfavor, just as at
the present day no one will use, (indeed, who would conde-
scend to use,) the indigenous simple, aromatic, and astringent
bitters, Menyanthes, ‘leucrium, Salix, Acorus, and Bistorta,
which grow abundantly at Hampstead, Highgate, Battersea,
and Paddington, when they can have Quassia, Catechu,
Cinchona, and Colomba, by sending to Hindoostan, Jamaica,
Mozambique, or Peru?

And here (as in a parenthesis) I would observe, that our
native medicinal herbs have of late been too much neglected ;
for certain it is that we compass half the globe to import a
drug, the prototype of which not unfrequently solicits our
hands at home. 1, for one, can never think that all those plants
are useless that we use not; that such countless myriads of
beauteous herbs which “ spring profusely wild over all the
deep green earth,” spring oft in vain, because in vain they
court man’s notice and regard; | never can believe that Pro-
vidence has armed the weeds of foreign lands with powers
necessary for us, whilst ours are impotent to heal. 1 never
ean believe our herbs inert, whilst every plant in other climes
may boast itself a physician's staff. 1am fully sensible of
the advantages of labour, and have often dwelt on the bless-
ings, on the peculiar poten those men enjoy who by
their station are compelled to work. Yes, I know that it is
by a merciful dispensation that man has been condemned in
the sweat of his brow to eat his bread; I feel that, where
necessity compels not to exertions, indolence debases man
almost to the level of a brute; and likewise, I confess that,
where most is required for the body, there most fully are
developed the energies of the mind; still 1 cannot but per-
ceive that many of our native plants want but to grow upon

5A Professor Burnett’s

the Andes or the Alps to be sought with avidity, and treated
with respect.

It is therefore a matter of no mean importance to which, by
a resolution of the council, the attention of the scientific world
at large, of the members of this Society in general, and of m
colleagues and myself in particular, is directed, by the deter-
mination to award the silver medal of the present year to the
author of the best essay on the’ nature and uses of any
indigenous plants the medicinal powers and properties of
which have been hitherto unknown, or only imperfectly
recorded. To me it appears that this will be sinking a shaft
in a very rich mine of scientific discovery, of truly philoso-
phical research. I doubt not, that we shall find many of the
remedies now sought from the tropics and the poles growing
at our doors, and soliciting to be allowed to relieve our ills.
It is an amiable idea, and one that experience goes far to
verify, that wherever natural circumstances favor the pro-
duction of disease, Nature, i. e. nature’s God, hath benefi-
cently conjoined the means of cure. May not the late
experiments with Salicine be given as an apposite illustration?
For, although we have so long been ploughing the Atlantic, and
burdening the bosom of the deep, to bring home our harvests
of Peruvian ague-cure, the ever valuable cinchona, Sa/licine,
extracted from our native willows, so far as experiments as
yet have gone, is proved to be equally efficient with the
Quinine of Peruvian bark. Where do agues most commonly
prevail? Where do we find remittent and intermittent fevers
of the greatest frequency and most fatal severity? Where,
but in wet low lands; in marshy and in fenny districts. And
where do willows love to dwell? Where, but in those very
fens and marshes; as if designed to relieve the diseases in-
separable therefrom. Hence I cannot but regard them as
the living elaboratories of nature, thus planted by Providence
to form Salicine for the use of man.

Of the energies of our native plants the herbalists of a
former age were doubtless too easily persuaded; their expe-
rience could have scarcely justified the encomiums they
lavished upon many; atleast, our observations will not permit
us to corroborate their praises: but, however ready we may
be to allow (and no one is more ready than myself,) that the
curative powers of many plants have been greatly exaggerated,
and that ignorance and superstition have attributed effects to
other things than causes, and have often thus ascribed to va-
rious vegetables, virtues which they have not, and never had;
still I can hardly think that all their asseverations should be
based in error; even the greatest lies are generally founded

Inaugural Address. 55

on some little truth; indeed, without it, they scarcely could
be framed. And when we consider how truly significant
are the common names of plants, such as woodbine, cleavers,
sea-thongs, catch-fly, rest-harrow, choke-pear, and many
others; when we reflect how justly descriptive is our native
nomenclature of many of the properties of the plants to
which the rustic names belong, such as bitter-sweet, hedge-
mustard, water-pepper, fool’s-parsley, hen-bane, dog-bane,
flea- bane, cow-bane, bug-bane, fish-bane, bane-bervries, bane-
wort, deadly nightshade, and so on, shall we precipitately
conclude that the malevolent terms alone are akin to truth,
and that balm, and eye-bright, thyme or strength, worm-
wood, tetter-wort and quinsy-wort, scurvy-grass, fever-fuge,
and a multitude of others, are all unmeaning appellations, be-
cause forsooth the ancient cure-all, all-heal, all-good, long-
life, and live-for-ever, seem, when misunderstood, somewhat
hyperbolical expressions.

**Sell your coat,” says the Italian proverb, “and buy
betony:” wherefore should this plant have been formerly so
much esteemed? So little is it now regarded, that we might
almost say it is despised. This question, however, will not
come alone: for*the same may be pertinently asked of our
dysentery, uvula, and tooth-worts, of our mad-worts, liver-
worts, and gout-worts. But, even granting that some, or
many, or even all, our health-promising plants, have no right
to their appellations, i. e. exhibit no sensible properties when
taken, (which, however, I am far from presupposing,) will it
be no advance in knowledge to ascertain the fact of their in-
efficiency? Will it not avail us much to know that such and
such plants do not possess either medicinal or poisonous
powers, instead of continuing in unenviable doubt? for such
as are unfit for physic will afford harmless, and often most
nutritious food. Hence I am far, very far, from underrating
such negative knowledge; and I am sure I am as far from
overvaluing its importance, when I state that, in the treasury
of science, it becomes positive information: just as in that
language which lives aie to learning and seems to science
sacred, two negatives have an affirmative, or, according to
their relative situation, more than an aflirmative meaning.
For example, non-nihil and non-nunquam simply reverse
their separate import, and may be translated somewhat and
sometimes, while nihil-non means every thing, and nunquam
non means always, So, as is symbolized in this apposite
illustration, negations in experimental researches, when duly
appreciated and properly employed, become most important
positive affirmations.

56 Professor Burnett's

But to return to the point whence this episode sprang, and
to the path whence a favorite topic has so long seduced
us. There are several circumstances connected with the his-
tory of quinia and cinchonia, the proximate principles of the
Peruvian barks, to which, might I so far presume, I could
much wish to invite the attention of my colleagues, the learned
professors of Materia Medica and Chemistry; for to my mind
they require much further elucidation, and many experiments
seem wanting to ascertain correctly the properties of these
barks, and the principles they respectively afford. The
quilled or pale-brown bark was a few years since so much more
highly prized than the yellow, that it was sold for sixteen
shillings a pound, whilst the other would scarcely fetch a
crown; and yet quinia, now so much esteemed, and believed
to be the potent principle of the Peruvian barks, is abundant
in the yellow, and all but absent from the quilled. Indeed,
I am informed by my friend, Mr. HENNELL, of Apothecaries’
Hall, one of the most indefatigable and intelligent pharma-
ceutic chemists of the day, that if the specimens submitted to
analysis be correctly sorted, (for, in commerce, they are ge-
nerally met with mixed,) no quinia at all will be found in the
quilled bark, but abundance of cinchonia; while, in the yellow
bark, the quinia is abundant, and the cinchonia wanting.

Now this is a result which could not, a priori, have been
conceived: for it is the guinta which is now extolled for its
extraordinary curative effects; which principle, be it noted,
is absent, or all but absent, from the quilled bark, so lately
prized for similar powers; while the cénchonia, which abounds
therein, is disesteemed: and, on the other hand, as a counter-
part to this paradox, the yellow bark, so long neglected, yields
abundantly, almost exclusively guénia, the present fashionable
tonic, whilst it contains none or very little of that other prin-
ciple cinchonia, to which all the former cures of its compeer,
the lance-leaved bark, must be attributed ; it being, as already
stated, in an equal degree devoid of quinia.

In the red bark both cinchonia and quinia are found, but
in much smaller relative proportions. It is likewise a circum-
stance worthy notice, that some of the other species of cin-
chona, specimens of the bark of which occasionally reach us,
are said to afford these principles more abundantly than any
of the officinal ones; and it is also probable, as shewn by Dr.
Hancock, that other genera may be more advantageously
used as febrifuges than cinchona.

Now, from these premises, we cannot avoid the conclusion
that further experiments and investigations, both botanical,
chemical, and medical, are much required: for if the quilled

Inaugural Address. Fy

bark really did cure ague, and of this there can be no doubt,
and if in it there is little or no guinia, but cinchonia is pre-
sent in abundance, either its native quinia must be converted
into cinchonia, or the neglect with which cinchonia is treated
can scarcely be its due. Again, the merits of quinia may per-
haps have been too much extolled; or it is not impossible
that the red bark, which contains the two principles in ques-
tion, or a preparation or formula comprising both quinia and
cinchonia, whencesoever extracted, may be found the most
efficient mode of administering relief in ague.

But these are problems requiring much attentive conside-
ration; and experience must prove whether the former con-
fidence in quilled bark, or the present trust in quinia, be
most correct. Probably cinchonia is esteemed too lightly; it
demands a series of experiments to ascertain its medicinal
effects. This is, however, but one of many points equally
requiring investigation, and which must be more fully entered
on hereafter; and it is only at this present glanced at, to
show how much and in how many ways the exertions of our
Society are wanted; how much and in how many ways its mem-
bers can benefit the world at large. For itis not improbable
that many of these proximate principles, now considered as
different and distinct, may be hereafter found to be similar
in effects, if not absolutely the same in constitution, just as all
the old salts of plants, viz. of wormwood, centuary, broom,
and others, have been proved to be one and the same, viz.
subcarbonate of potash.

The extraction of the proximate principles of plants, of those
especially on which their peculiar properties depend, is
doubtless a triumphant step in Phytochymics, or Vegetable
Chemistry, and is another point to which I must briefly draw
your attention; as it is a discovery which promises to open a
new era in science, and to work a complete revolution in the
armoury of physic. ‘To the superficial observer it may seem

t these discoveries, though undoubtedly of very modern
date, had been long obscurely adumbrated, as it had for years
been known that the stimulating powers of many plants, as
of the Cruciferw, for example, were destroyed by simple ex-
siceation; that the poisonous principles of Morourtalts per-
ennis might be extracted by boiling in water, when it becomes
a table and harmless esculent; that the virulent qualities

the Cassava are separated by heat, and that, after roasting,
it is esteemed an admirable pe nutritious food. This know-
ledge, however, differed widely from that which has enabled
us to reduce and exhibit, ina constant and determined form,
quinia and cinchonia as the active and proximate principles
i

58 Professor Burnett’s

of bark; salicine from willows; veratria from colchicum and
white hellebore; morphia, narcotine, and meconic acid from
opium; and so forth. Great caution, almost a jealous caution,
is, nevertheless, required in watching both the extraction of
these principles and the records of their effects: for it is not
impossible, nay, it is far from being improbable, that some of
these substances are products rather than educts of the che-
mist’s operations; just as sugar may be produced from rags,
tan from saw-dust, vinegar from wood, oxalic acid from offal,
and so on. Not that the mere fact of such transmutations
would render the substances produced a whit less valuable than
if they were educed; their value must depend upon their in-
trinsic worth; and it may be far more advantageous, under cer-
tain circumstances, to resort to the crucible of the chemist,
than to the laboratory of nature, for many of them. We know
that wood consists elementarily of charcoal and water; that
starch, and gum, and sugar, are similar in their elements
likewise: and that they only differ from each other in their
relative definite proportions: we know that nature, by vary-
ing the atomic ratios of these few simple elements, changes,
as in the ripening of fruit, tasteless lignin into powerful
acids, which in their turn become converted into sugar,
often impregnated with peculiar essential aromatic oils; and
thus, in plants, her living retorts, Nature, from watery
sap and atmospheric air, so modifies the union of three
simple bodies, as to form gum, sugar, starch, lignin, resins,
oils, acids, alkalies, and alkaloids, with numerous other
proximate principles in abundance, of every kind and in
every variety; and this by merely varying the relative pro-
perties of the same simple constituents, oxygen, hydrogen,
and carbon,—these three, for others are seldom and sparingly
employed. Wealso know that in some instances our labora-
tories can imitate the vegetable alembics, or render their pro-
cesses subservient to our designs. ‘Thus, in malting barley,
germination is suddenly checked when the starch of the grain
has become converted into sugar; and by heat the same starch
can be transmuted into gum. It is, therefore, not impossible
that many of the more active vegetable principles may be in
like manner formed, the more scarce from the more abundant.
That some of the newly discovered bodies, at present, for con-
venience, called proximate vegetable principles, such as caffein,
asparagine, piperine, and so on, are not educts, but products,
is more than probable, when we find that they do not exhibit
the specific effects peculiar to the substances from which they
are obtained. Thus we learn from Mr. Branps, that coffee
is narcotic, but caflein, as that celebrated chemist proved by

Inaugural Address. 59

experiment on his own person, has (at least in seruple doses,)
no sensible narcotic powers; and the effects of morphia bear
no proportion to the effects producible by the quantity of
opium consumed in its formation. Again, asparagine does
not communicate to urine the peculiar odour which asparagus
is invariably found to do; and, furthermore, piperine, the so-
called proximate principle of pepper, is entirely destitute of
pungency and heat. These, then, and many others, will
probably be hereafter shown to be products of the chemist’s
operations; just as beer and wine are not, as they are often
called, the juice of barley and the grape, but are produced,
not educed therefrom, by fermentation; and alcohol, in-
eluding brandy and spirit of every kind, is not educed, but
réduced from wine and sweetwort by distillation, or formed
y condensing the vapours which rise from bread while
baking.
It may be, then, (and I repeat it for the sake of the im-
ion which a repeated proposition is designed to make,)
it may be found hereafter more profitable to form many of
these substances now known as the proximate principles of
vegetables, directly from their elements, or indirectly from
the mutation of common and abundant matters in the
laboratory of the chemist, than to procure them intermedi-
rect from plants, the living elaboratories of nature; just as
oxalic acid can be made from hair, gristle, and such like
refuse matters; or produced by the distillation of sugar
with nitric acid, instead of being educed from the Oxalis ace-
tosella, corniculata, &c., where it naturally exists; or as
a acid is now obtained from prussian blue, which can
made from almost any offal, at an amazing diminution of
expense to what it could be educed from bitter almonds,
-laurel leaves, plum and peach kernels, &c. where the
acid naturally exists, and which were once esteemed its only
sources. Indeed, one great object of the vegetable world
would seem to be, to anticipate the arts, and to provide nu-
merous comforts and conveniences, such as clothes and
shelter, nutritious food, and efficient medicines, for man,
long before he was able to provide any for himself; and not
for man only, but for the whole animal creation. Of this
vegetable physiology affords numerous interesting illustra-
tions: and although at present we contemplate the processes
of nature but as through a glass, darkly; although we see
but in part, and know but in part, still thus far we can
perceive that, whether we sleep or whether we wake,
we rest, or whether we toil, these indefatigable
servants are labouring for our advantage; that they are

‘

60 Professor Burnett’s

ever actively preparing and purveying sugar, starch,
gluten, gum, cotton, wood, flax, hemp, and many other
substances, with an alacrity, a perseverance, and a cer-
tainty which would be truly astonishing, were we not sur-
rounded by such natural miracles, and did we not live ina
world of wonders. Many of these works will doubtless ever
remain inimitable by human art; to bounteous nature we
must ever be indebted for her most precious gifts. We
never can hope to penetrate the arcana of all her mysteries,
although in some few particulars we can trace her course,
and imitate her productions. Still, as we have already much
lightened human labour by the substitution of brute
strength, and superseded the use of many brutes by the
adaptation of machinery, thus reclaiming much soil from the
pasturage of cattle for the growth of food for man, and, by
the introduction of steam and rail-roads, we shall reclaim much
more; so it isnot improbable that much of the labour of tilling
the ground for the growth of human food may hereafter
be avoided, by the immediate production of many substances
from their elements, instead of deriving them intermediately
through the culture of plants; or, at any rate, it is not im-
probable that we may so far advance in science and in art
as to be enabled to convert the less into the more useful; the
more into the less abundant: as wood into starch, worn-out
flax, i. e. old linen, into sugar, and so on; and thus, if it
were not for placing an important subject in rather a ludicrous
point of view, we (in like manner as spiders and some other
insects are said to devour their exuvial skins,) might hope
to be enabled, after having worn out our clothes, to feed
upon them, and to dine off as well as on our tables.

There is but one topic more with which at present I will
intrude on your attention, but it is one which, as it most
especially relates to the duties of the professor of botany, I
should be inexcusable to let pass unnoticed.

Much of the obscurity attendant on the history of the
effects of drugs is doubtless attributable to the careless
manner in which plants have too commonly been collected and
preserved, but often, still more to the errors which the igno-
rant and the frauds which the unprincipled commit. Hence,
itis necessary that a continual check should be kept by the
eye of science over the gatherers and venders of medicinal
herbs. How often do we find briony root substituted for
calomba, mullein leaves for foxglove, horn-beam for hops,
marigold petals for saffron, cow parsley for hemlock, &c.
Into one of our largest drug factories there once was brought
a large quantity of Ginanthe crocata, which, had not a botanic

Inaugural Address. ol

eye been casually cast upon the heap, would have been both
sold and bought for conium; and had an extract, or tincture,
or powder of its leaves been used, how disastrous might have
been the result. This is nota solitary instance; such mistakes
are unfortunately still too common: but henceforth they can less
easily escape detection, since a knowledge of botany has been
made a necessarily integral part of every medical education.
Indeed, much as we may value the labours and researches of
the physician and the chemist who investigate the medicinal

roperties and constituent principles of plants, the labours of
an 34 would be often of no avail, did not the botanist aid them
in determining, by constant and decided characters, the very
plants in which such principles are found, and to which such
properties belong; as well as in what situation and under what
circumstances they should grow, at what seasons and in what
states they should be collected; for all these will often much
affect their potency and value: e. g. how different is the Apium
graveolens growing in the light to the same plant when ex-
cluded from its access? how importantly does a wet or a dry
situation affect the character of many umbelliferous plants;
for the dry soil which increases the aromatic properties of
some, diminishes the essential powers of others, while the wet
situations which impair the aroma of these, enable those to
eliminate to the full their active poisons. Again: many
plants similar or nearly so, and which are frequently undis-
tinguishable to a non-botanic eye, often possess very different
properties: thus, to take only the most common and familiar
cases, how important it is to distinguish Aithusa Cynapium
from the true culinary parsley, the Lolium temulentum from
other grasses, and so forth. Thus, how vainly should we
seek in Cichorium Intybus for the hepatic influence of
Leontodon ‘Taraxacum; and yet, to superficial observers, so
similar in their early states are these two very distinct plants,
that they are being continually and constantly mistaken for
each other; in fact, they form the pons asinorum of all incep-
tor candidates for botanic fame.

But I feel that it would be here a work of supererogation
to illustrate more fully the utter practical inutility of many of
the researches of the physician and the chemist, without the
botanist would labour with them. What avails it that the
physician knows that opium brings sleep, lulls pain, and stays
the approach of many ills; that Peruvian bark cures ague; that
jalap and scammony are drastic, and rhubarb a tonic astrin-
gent purge? What avails it that the chemist by analysis can
prove that the sedative principle of opium is morphia, the
tonic of cinchona, quinine ; or what pa it that he proclaims

62 Professor Burnett’s

the equally important facts, that certain specimens of bark
submitted to his examination contain a large, and others a
small, portion of one or other of the active or inert principles,
without the botanist could indicate the plants which yield
them, and teach to distinguish those in which the active
agents the most abound, and which consequently may be the
most profitably employed? Say not that the merchant or
the druggist will import and prepare them to his hand: this
would indeed be trusting to a rotten staff, without they were
themselves instructed in that science which alone can teach
to distinguish those which are found less from those which are
found more efficient in their use and productive of the active
agents sought. Are crops to be cultivated and cargoes to be
imported on chance or bare empirical presumption, and the
first notice of error be in the disappointment of the physician
at the non-efficacy of his prescription, or in the vain labour of
the chemist to extract the essential parts?

Besides the certain diagnoses it affords, there is another
advantage of botanical system, especially of the natural sys-
tem, which, although it is very much perverted and abused,
holds, in my mind, a rank of no mean importance: viz. the
general rule, sanctioned by experience, that plants possess-
ing the same botanical characters often contain the same
chemical principles, and produce the same medicinal effects;
not always, indeed seldom, in a similar degree, but most fre-
quently in a graduated scale. The potency being traceable
in the various instances from its least to its greatest accumu-
lation, from its lowest to its highest stages of activity. ‘Thus,
the Lactuca virosa is highly acrid, while the Lactuca sativa is
bland and esculent; the Cucumis sativus an agreeable food,
while the Cucumis colocynthis is a powerful medicine; the
Vegetable Marrow, Gourds, and Melons, mild and innoxious,
while the Momordica Elaterium is so violent in its effects as
almost to be esteemed a poison. Again, the Croton Casca-
rilla is a grateful stomachic, while the Croton Tiglium is a
most violent cathartic; the Leopard’s bane may be contrasted
with the artichoke, and parsley with hemlock; the Solanum
dulcamara, nigrum, and tuberosum, bear hurtful berries;
while those of the egg-plant and the tomato, when cooked,
form a wholesome food; the pea and bean are only flatulent,
while the laburnum is a poison. And furthermore, so com-
pletely are the latent properties of some plants developed in
other individuals of the same species, genera, and orders,
while the notorious principles of those are overshadowed or
become occult in these, that, did not instances occur in dif-
ferent varieties of the same species, and different species of

Inaugural Address. 63

the same genera, they would seem to form more serious ob-
jections to the present distribution of the larger groups than
they actually do. Thus, in one group, the Umbelliferae, are
found the venomous Conium, Unanthe, and Cicuta, the
harmless and nutritious Carrot, Parsnep, and Earth-nut, the
stinking Galbanum, Opoponax, and Assafcetida, and the
rateful aromatics, Cummin, Coriander, Carraway, and Dill.
ut, then, it should be remembered that, in the same genus,
(Lnanthe, while the roots of the species Crocata afford a
deadly poison, those of the species Pimpinelloides form a
wholesome food; and even in the same'species, dpium gra-
veolens, the cultivated Celery, is a harmless, while, in an
uncultivated state, it is a deleterious plant. Once more, the
milk-tree and the bread-fruit are associated with the Upas of
Java; but the connexion is established between them by the
figs; for, although most are harmless, one species of the
us Ficus, the Toxicaria, is, as its name imports, an ac-
owledged poison. Of these illustrations there would be no
end, did time allow of the pursuit: on another occasion I
may, probably, should it be sanctioned by the Council, bring
the matter more at length before the Society, as itis one that
uires much serious deliberation.
a eaetsble physiognomy (if I may so express myself,) is a
study well deserving cultivation; for it is most important to
be able, on looking at a plant, to aflirm, on principle, this
may be eaten; that is a poisonous plant; or, again, those are
suspicious vegetables: such knowledge, moreover, is not
only desirable to have, but easy to be attained; and its prac-
tical utility has already been, in several instances, shown
under circumstances of urgent need. It is, however, a skill
in vegetable physiology, a knowledge of the laws of vege-
table metamorphoses, which can alone enable us to decide
such points with safety, and it is one of the most delightful
of all botanical praxes to work out the relation of organs
apparently, but not really, different, and thus to establish
hetero- and iso-morphous characters of plants, often im-
properly associated or severed; and to the rudimentary state
of this branch of botany may be attributed those anomalies,
those apparent paradoxes, which at present form exceptions
to our natural schemes. But even this power of diagnosis
may be, nay, it already has been many times perverted; and
men, presuming on their wisdom, when they ought rather to
avow their ignorance, have supposed their knowledge of
these general laws so perfect and complete, that some have
not scrupled to declare it impossible for nature to swerve
from those they have defined, and refused to believe in the

64 Professor Burnett's

possible occurrence of exceptions. Exceptions, and nume-
rous exceptions, do, nevertheless, undoubtedly exist: these
should, however, rather stimulate us to review our natural
classifications, than to discard them altogether; should lead
us rather to distrust our own performance, than to accuse
nature for a moment of egregious error.

The true purposes and value of the natural and artificial
systems, the aid they reciprocally afford each other, and the
mode in which they may be most advantageously employed
in the advancement of medico-botanical science, will form
another very important topic, which, with the permission of
the Council, I purpose submitting to the consideration of the
Society. It is one that I consider of paramount importance,
and the corelative utility of these two systems is a point for
which I have long most ardently contended, and one which 1
have not neglected to inculcate, both in my lectures at the
Royal Institution, and in the medical schools of Great
Windmill street and St. George’s Hospital: for Iam sure that
either, when alone, would be a most imperfect guide; while
from them in conjunction we derive a clue which will be often
found to lead to discoveries of the greatest brilliancy and
value. Analogy will lead to experiment, and experiment,
guided by analogy, will lead us to truth.

But, to conclude. In the botanical researches of this So-
ciety, it is evident that much discretion must be exercised, so
as to render complete the medicinal history of the subjects
we propose to illustrate, without including in our transactions’
topics foreign to medico-botanical science. Hence, although
your professor of botany is sensible, no one more so, of the
interest and importance of anatomical and physiological, as
well as systematic and economic botany; and although hewould
consider himself wanting in his duty to this Society, were he
to neglect any of these departments, all which bear, either
directly or indirectly, on each other, still he would regard
himself as perverting the objects of the Society, and wander-
ing from the designs of its institution, were he to occupy the
time of the meetings, or the pages of the Transactions, by any
disquisitions on mere anatomical, physiological, or systematic
themes. Many of them must, of course, engage his attention,
as promising to throw light on medical botany; but whenever
individual research has shown them to be impertinent thereto,
they cease to be objects fit for presentation here. Their value
to science, however, is not the less; at other times, and in other
places, if presented, according to their worth so will they he
esteemed: and this seems the more necessary to be stated,
lest any should precipitately conclude that general botany

Inaugural Address. 65

and medical botany are two different sciences; whereas, the
one is but a part of the other, just as the fruit is but a part
and production of the tree on which it grows. Hence, it
must be evident that there areno means practicable of learn-
ing just so much, and so much only, of the philosophy of the
vegetable world, as may be immediately applicable to the
purposes of medicine, without at the same time studying the
science as a whole; and this could alone efficiently be done
by making it an independent subject for instruction, and
enacting that an attendance on botanical lectures should
henceforth become an essential part of every student's duty;
for, without such knowledge, no medical education can be
truly esteemed complete. ‘he junction of botany to materia
medica is absurd, as one must, of necessity, be neglected; for
if, in the time allotted to the course, equal attention be paid
to both, both will be imperfectly and unsatisfactorily taught.
The courses must be kept essentially distinct, even when de-
livered by the same professor. If, in the infancy of physic,
their union was tolerated, and botany studied merely because
some plants afforded medicines, such an occultation no
longer can be borne. Both sciences, by such a scheme, are
injured, and keep each other, as it were, in thraldom. They
are both sufficiently extensive and important to form separate
studies.

The advantages resulting from the division of labour
are too well known, and have been too long established,
to need illustration here; and our Society, although akin
to others, of which it would almost seem an emanation,
has objects as important and distinct as those have from
their antitypes. Thus, the Royal Society, which at first,
and in our infant days of science, included in its foster-
ing arms every department of philosophy, soon gave rise
to other associations for the especial advancement of par-
ticular sciences: such as the Antiquarian Society, for
archeological researches; the Linnean Society, for the
encouragement of natural history, whence the Horticultural,
the Agricultural, the Medico-Botanical, and Zoological So-
cieties have sprung. ‘Thus, as science advances, each sepa-
rate branch, arriving at maturity, quits the parent institution
which nurtured it in youth; and hence there has arisen that
brilliant galaxy of British associations, of which our country
justly boasts, as the Royal Society, the Royal Society of
Literature, the Royal Institution, the Medical and Medico-
Chirurgical Societies, the Geological, Geographical, Astrono-
mical, and numerous other learned associations, all striving in
honourable warfare against indolence and error, all apieed

kK

66 Prof. Burnett's Jnaugural Address.

in a glorious crusade to recover the holy land of science
from the infidel dominion of ignorance and sloth.

Gentlemen: In attempting to develop what he considers
to be the legitimate objects of your Society; in attempting
to trace, as it were in outline, what he considers to be the
duties of his office, your professor of botany is aware that
he has very inefficiently foreshadowed the object he had in
view; and yet, insufficient as the sketch avowedly is, he is
sensible that, in following it practically out, he shall often
have occasion, as at the present moment, to claim your in-
dulgence for much that has been done imperfectly, your
pardon for much which has been wholly left undone: and
yet he doubts not that, when zeal in your service is apparent,
you will kindly, from your own resources, supply that which
in him seems wanting.

Your professor of botany is likewise sensible how much he
must depend, how much he must be indebted to the co-
operation and separate exertions of his colleagues; yet he
doubts not that, from their well-known ardour in the pursuit
of science, they will always befriend him in completing those
accounts of medicinal plants, from time to time to be pre-
sented to the Society, and for which duties none can be more
competent than themselves: for thus conjointly we may hope
to be enabled to collect such ample details, and such certain
records, drawn from actual observations and experiments of
the principles, properties, and powers of the vegetable ma-
teria medica, as may go far towards perfecting the practice of
medicine, and rendering, as Homer says,

‘© A wise physician, skilled our wounds to heal,
More worth than armies to the public weal.”
"Intpdc yap avnp wodNGy avrakioc d\dwr,
‘Tac 7 ixrapvey, ime’ iria dappaka waocety’.

67

FEBRIFUGE BARK OF EL MALAMBO.

Some Account of the Febrifuge Bark of a Tree called El
Malambo, the Produce of South America. By Wm.
Hamitton, m.p. (Communicated in a Letter to Earl
Stanuope, President of the Med.-Botanical Society.)

Iw the latter part of the year 1825, I received from my cor-
respondent, Mr. Warrs, his Britannic Majesty’s consul at
Carthagena, in Columbia, some samples of a febrifuge bark,
called el Malambo, the produce of a tree with which I am
wholly unacquainted. ‘The samples consisted of pieces of
the bark in substance, and an ounce of it in powder. As it
reached me by way of Liverpool, and the carriage of the
bark in substance would have been attended with considera-
ble difficulty and expense, I requested a friend there to place
this last at the disposal of some medical gentleman likely to
do justice to its investigation, while the powder was transmit-
ted to me by post. ‘The bark in substance was accordingly
given to Dr. Trait; of the result of whose trials I have
never since been favoured with any report; and the powder
1 transmitted to Dr. Bostock, whose clinical researches
ointed him out as a person likely to promote the objects IL
din view. After some delay, I was favoured by him with
the following letter, dated London, 11th December, 1825.

“Sir: I regret that so long a time should have elapsed since
the receipt of your letter. When it arrived I was far from home,
and have since that time been very particularly engaged. The
account which is given of the bark is certainly very much in its
favour, and its sensible properties are such as to render it proba-
ble that it may be a useful article of the materia medica. The
only plan, however, to establish a point of this nature would be to
send a quantity of the substance to some hospital, or dispensary,
where a number of trials might be made of it by any person in that
kind of extensive practice. Its taste and odour would make me
suppose that it may be found useful in affections of the stomach
and bowels, as is the case with colombo orangustura; and, even if
its properties were found to be very similar, still it might be im-
portant to have a variety of articles. As I have no connexion
with any medical charity, it will not be in my power to give you
any assistance, and I think it will be best for you to apply to
some practitioner in your neighbourhood.

“Tam, sir, your most obedient,
“J, Bostock.’

Mr. Watts, in his letter, dated Carthagena, 19th July,
1525, says,
4

68 Dr. Hamilton on the

‘“‘T wish particularly to draw your attention to a valuable pro-
duction of this province: it is the bark of the Malambo tree. I
euclose you a little of the powdered bark; and Mr. Byrne has
charge of a parcel containing some pieces of the bark. You have
also enclosed a description of this bark, and its qualities, given me
by Don Jorge Lopez, the apothecary, my neighbour, with a trans-
Jation. J shall be glad to hear what opinion may be formed in
England of this bark, and whether it is likely to become an article
of exportation from this port; for it can be procured in any quan-
tities. I enclose also another description of the Malambo tree,
extracted from another rare and valuable Spanish work in my
possession, with a translation.

The following are the accounts referred to:

‘* Descripcion del Mulambo, por Don Jorge Lopez.

‘“Sedia, en la provincia de Cartagena, un arbol de la misma
altura de los Quinos, nombrado Malambo, cuja corteza en mi
concepto tiene qualidades mas recomandables que la Quina: ella
abunda de un aromatico tan constante y penetrante que jamas lo
pierde, y por supuesto abunda tambier de partes gomosas muy
utiles, 4 mi ver, 4 la naturaleza; es indigena de esta provincia, y se
encuentra con abundancia. Su corteza as quehabla, y crea que si
se dedicase los facultativos 4 hacer usa de‘ella, la Quina perderia
su concepto. En este pais la aplican a diversos males con ventaja
conocida, en particular para los pasmos, heridas, inflamaciones,
males del estomago; a mi ver producivia un efecto admirable en
la hidropesia, y fiebres malignas; por varias observaciones que se
ban hecho es effeax para las asmas, reumatisma, disenteria, supre-
siones de menstruas; en fin, en el pais, y en particular en los
campas, es un remedia general aplicado con felix suceso en todas
las enfermedadas referidas.””*

‘* Descripcion del Malambo, (extracted from a rare Spanish work. )

‘« El tercero es el Malambo, cuja corteza aromatico es un anti-
spasmodico eminente, de un amargo muy activo, febrifugo, y

* Translation of the Description of the Malambo, given by Don George Lopes.

There is found in the province of Carthagena a tree of the same height as
the Quinas, (bark-trees, ) named the Malambo, the bark of which, in my opinion,
possesses more valuable qualities than even the Quina. It abounds with an
aromatic so strong and so penetrating, that it never loses it under any circum-
stances; and, of course, it likewise abounds in gums highly useful, in my idea,
to humanity. It is indigenous to this province, and is found in great abun-
dance. It is to the bark of the tree which I allude, and I really believe that,
were the faculty to make use of it, the Quina (Peruvian bark) would fall in their
estimation. In this country it is applied to several diseases with well-known
success; in particular, in cases of spasms, wounds, inflammations, diseases of
the stomach, In my opinion, it would produce the happiest results in cases of
dropsy and malignant fever. From several other observations, it is also found
highly efficacious in asthmas, rhenmatisms, dysentery, and suppression of the
menses. In short, in the province, and particularly in the country parts, it is a
remedy applied with the happiest success in all the cases enumerated above.

Febrifuge Bark of El Malambo. 69

astringente. Lo hay con abundancia en la provincia de Santa
Marta, donde lo aplican para curar pasmo, calenturas, intermit-
tentes, y la dysenteria; y tambien se encuentra en varios territorios
de esta provincia. Se hacen algunas extracciones de su corteza
par la Habana, y alli lo usan con mucha suceso contra el pasmo, a
que son muy propensas los negros; y desde que tien este specifico
eusi no muera ninguno deel. Aquino se aplica para nada, y hace
pocos dias hemos visto morir un joven apreciable, par no haberle
dado en tiempo esto remedio. Es un vegetal importantissimo, que
merece la atencion del gobierno por las virtudes que dexamos ex-
puestas, y aplicaciones que se hacen de el en Santa Marta; como
y por color y olor de su corteza, tenemos razones para creer sea del
genero Cusparia, 6 Quina de la Angostura, de que se compane
parte del receta del difunta Dr. Mutis, para curacion de la dysen-
teria, y na duda mos aseguar que, a falta de esta, puede stiplir la
corteza del Malambo.”””

Such is the account given by the late canon Don Jose
Ignacio del Pombo, the friend and pupil of the lamented and
learned Mutis, in his rare and almost unknown work on the
Natural Productions of the Province of Carthagena.

Having ip gesgre a further supply of Malambo bark for
experiment, I at length received a second supply of some

ounds, in the summer of 1827, at a time when indisposition

ad confined me for some months to the house. I in conse-
quence applied to my friend Dr. Cookworruy, whose practice
at the dispensary pointed him out as a person likely to pro-
mote my views, especially as he had facilities for getting it
reduced to powder, which were not within my reach; and I
placed the whole quantity, with the exception of one piece,
(fragments of which accompany this paper,) at his disposal.
The bark was in pieces of from a foot to eighteen inches in
length, about two inches in breadth, and three eighths of an
inch in thickness; the outer and thinner coat was externally

* Description of the Malambo, (ertracted from a rare Spanish Work.)

The third is the Malambo, the aromatic bark of which is a powerful antispas-
modic, very active bitter, febrifuge, and astringent, It abounds in the pro-
vinee of Santa Marths, where itis applied to the cure of spasm, intermittent
fever, and dysentery; it is likewise found in several districts of this province.
It is sent (the bark) in some quantity to the Havana, and there it is used with
much success in cases of spasms, to which the negroes are very subject; and
since they are in possession of this specific scarcely any die of it. Here nouse
whatever is made of it, and not many days ago we have seen a very amiable
young men carried off, from not having taken this remedy in time. It is a most
important vegetable, and deserving the attention of government, for the virtues
we have enumersted, and the use made of it in Senta Martha. From the colour
and odour of its bark, we have reason to believe it is of the genus Cusparia, or
Quina of Angusturs, of which is in part composed Dr. Mutis’ receipt for the

eure of Apeasnehy's und we have no doubt that the want of this might be supplied
by the Malambo, ,

70 ' Dr. Hamilton on the

of an ash colour, marked with irregular longitudinal furrows,
and separating from the inner or thicker coat, which had
more of a ligneous texture, or any attempt at breaking the
bark, by bending the fragment marked a, exhibits both the
inner and outer coats of the bark united; on fracture, the
smell was agreeably aromatic, and the taste not unpleasantly
bitter. I failed in my expectations of obtaining a satisfactory
report of its effects from Dr. Cookworthy, and could only
learn from him, in conversation, that it was as effectual in
arresting the progress of intermittents as the cinchona; but
the bulk of the dose rendered its exhibition objectionable,
especially since the introduction of quinine, a few grains of
which produced all the effects of as many ounces of either
the Peruvian or Malambo bark. I urged him in vain to get
his brother to analyse a portion, and “determine the nature
and quantity of its active constituents; and I found that, by
‘trusting to others, I had again lost the opportunity which
this second supply afforded me of investigating its useful
qualities.. I had, however, retained one piece of the bark,
which I treasured up, in the hope of some future opportunity
offering for getting it analysed; and this piece I shall gladly
place at the disposal of the Society.

I was equally unsuccessful in my applications to Mr.
Watts for specimens of the plant which produced it; and
hence I am unable to throw the smallest light upon the genus
to which it belongs, or advance anything beyond the merest
conjecture. ‘That it does not belong to any of the true cin-
chonas, which differ from the Exostemas in having their
stamina included, seems probable from HumsBo.pt’s obser-
vation, (Pers. Narr. vol. iil. p. 29, note,) that almost all the
cinchonas of the inferior regions are Exostemas, not true
cinchonas, the properties of which differ considerably from
those of the genuine cinchonas of the Andes; while, from his
observation of the fact of his not having found a single
specimen of Exostema during his long abode on the coast of
Cumana and Caraccas, the banks of the Apuri, the Oronoko,
and Rio Negro, in an extent of country of four thousand
square leagues, it seems equally improbable that it belongs
to the genus Exostema. It is probable therefore that it
belongs either to the febrifuge bark-tree described by Dr.
Hancock, the Cusparia of the banks of the Oronoko, the
Machaonia, the Cuspa of Humboldt, a nondescript plant,
the inflorescence of which Humboldt has never been able to
procure, notwithstanding its blossoming at the end of No-
vember, and being abundant in the province of Cumana; or
perhaps a new and distinct genus.

Febrifuge Bark of El Malambo. Tl

Humboldt describes his Cuspa, which, he says, must by no
means be confounded with the Cuspare (Cusparia febrifuga) of
Angostura, as a tree of not more than fifteen or twenty feet in
height, with alternate, oval, entire leaves destitute of stipules,
and differing in this respect from all the trees of the family
of Rubiaceae, to which the Cinchonas and Exostemas belong,
and yielding a very thin pale-yellow bark, possessing more
bitterness, but at the same time less disagreeable, and agree-
ing better with the stomach than that of the true cinchona,
and possessing great febrifuge powers. This description by
no means corresponds with the Malambo bark, which is
rather thick, of a cinereous colour, agreeable to the smell,
and of a bitterness not only less, but totally different in taste
than the bark of any of the cinchonas. It also appears, from
the account of Don Ignacio de Pombo, to be a powerful and
valuable antispasmodic; and the fact of its having, from the
first period of its introduction into Cuba, completely checked
the mortality previously so frequent among the blacks, from
the attacks of a spasmodic disorder to which they were sub-
ject, ‘desde que tien este specifico casi na muere ninguna
de el,” is an important recommendation, which merits further
investigation.

Possibly it might even be found of service in arresting the
progress of vaachetsa, some of whose most distressing
symptoms are evidently of a spasmodic character. Spasm,
the term applied by the prior to the complaint so prevalent,
and formerly so fatal, among the negroes of Cuba, is so
vague a denomination as to leave us in a state of uncertainty
as to the true character of the complaint; but tetanus, to
which negroes are often subject, is probably the disorder to
which he refers, and is one which bears considerable analogy
to hydrophobia; and itis this circumstance which suggested
to me the possibility of this bark being useful, if only as a
palliative, in this latter and still more melancholy affliction.

_ Leannot sufficiently regret that my information does not
enable me to furnish anything in the shape of positive infor-
mation, beyond the statements furnished by the prior and the

na apothecary, whose exaggerated description is
only calculated to provoke a smile. Should circumstances
ever permit of my visiting the regions which produce it, I
hope to be able to lay before the Society more precise intel-
ligence respecting it, accompanied by a botanical description
and specimens,

Posrscuirr. I have no distinct recollection of having
ever communicated to your lordship a striking instance of the

72 Dr. Hamilton on the Effects of the Musk Ockra.

powerful effects of the seeds of the Hibiscus Abelmoschus,
or Musk Ockra, in counteracting the fatal influence of the
bite of venomous reptiles, related to me in one of his letters
by Mr. Watts, our public-spirited consul at Carthagena,. as
having fallen within the immediate limits of his own observa-
tion; I shall therefore repeat the facts of Mr. Watts’ com-
munication here.

A peasant, resident on the heights of La Papa, near
Carthagena, being engaged with his dogs in pursuit of a
hare, a dog, the best of his number, had the misfortune to be
wounded by one of the most venomous snakes of that district.
The dog instantly dropped, foamed at the mouth, and the
wounded part began to swell. ‘The peasant, regarding the
case as desperate, at first resigned the dog to what he ima-
gined to be his inevitable fate; but returning home, and
recollecting that the animal had been a favourite, and the
best of his pack, he determined to revisit the spot, and ascer-
tain the degree of hope to be entertained. On reaching the
spot, he found the animal stretched out, unable to move, and
evidently in great agony: taking him up in his arms, he hur-
ried home with him, and immediately rubbed the swoln and
wounded part well with the bruised seeds of the musk plant,
or Almisdenia, as the Hibiscus Abelmoschus is called there;
forcing a considerable quantity at the same time down the
animal's throat, with such success, that symptoms of amend-
ment rapidly appeared, and the dog, at the date of Mr.
Watts’s letter, was perfectly recovered; although nothing is
more certain than that his death would have been inevitable,
had he been left to his fate. Yet here the application was
made under circumstances by no means favourable, since
much time had necessarily been lost, and the symptoms of
constitutional affection from the action of the poison had
actually begun to exhibit themselves.

The Musk Ockra is a common plant in most of our West-
India islands, and its seed could be easily obtained from
thence to almost any amount. It certainly merits further in-
vestigation, and will, I trust, attract the notice of some of
the scientific members of the Society. A saturated tincture
of the bruised seeds would, in all probability, be the most
convenient form for internal exhibition.

]
.
j

ESSENTIAL OIL OF LEMONS.

On the Use of the Essential Oil of Lemons in various
Inflammations of the Eye; with Cases. By Joun Foorr,
jun. Esq., L.S.A., A.M-B.S.

(Read June 11th, 1833.)

For several years past the use of stimulants in various ex-

ternal inflammations of the eye has been gradually gaining

ground. An opinion formerly prevailed, not only among
the public generally, but also very extensively in the profes-
sion, that the eye was a very tender organ, and would not
bear rough handling. This idea tended in a great measure
to retard the period when stimulant applications were first
employed, and to induce great caution in their use. It was
formerly the practice, in many inflammatory affections of this
organ, to bleed, cup, and leech, to such an amount as fre-
quently even to do serious injury to the constitution of the
patient; such mischief indeed, that he would be years in
ting over it, and perhaps might never entirely recover
rom its effects. Even lately, within a few years, a work has
been published by Mr. Lawrence, one of the surgeons to St.

Bartholomew's Hospital, on the Venereal Affections of the

Eye, recommending, in the gonorrhceal ophthalmia, that

blood should be drawn as long as any could be obtained

from a vein! And what does he present us with as the re-
sults of his depleting practice? ‘Truly, a melancholy list of
lost eyes. On the other hand, if we look to the reports of

Mr. Guthrie on the stimulant plan of treatment in the same

affection, we find success attend his practice. I have seen

about six or seven cases of this highly dangerous ophthalmia ;
they have been all treated on the stimulating plan, and have
allinvariably ended successfully. Having been a pupil at the

Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital for a period of

nearly five years, I have had ample opportunities of testing

the relative value of the stimulating and depletory plans of
treatment, and, were all things equal, the fact that the for-
mer saves the patient from that abstraction of blood which is
= mc urged to a great amount, would alone be sufficient
with me to give it the preference: but it has other advan-
tages; it eflects a cure in a shorter period, and does not

leave behind it, as the antiphlogistic plan generally does, a

low or chronic inflammation of the parts, requiring a stimu-

lant application to remove it.
To Mr. Guthrie belongs the credit of having introduced,
L

-

74 Mr. Foote on the Use of the

and followed up to a very great extent, the plan of stimula-
tion in acute external inflammations of the eye. Before his
time, the vinum opii, solutions of nitrate of silver in distilled
or rose water of various strengths, the unguentum zinci, or
the unguentum hydrargyri nitratis dilutum, were employed,
but not extensively, in the chronic inflammations; while Mr.
Guthrie has used them, and stronger stimuli, in the acute
stage of the same affections; a step, for the boldness of which
he would have been severely blamed, but for the success with
which his efforts were crowned. On the continent, Graafe
and Walther, and some other surgeons, employed the solu-
tion of the nitrate of silver in purulent ophthalmia; but this
application has the inconvenience, that, when employed for
any length of time, it has the effect of staining the eye.
This was first pointed out in print by Dr. Jacob, in the
Dublin Medical Transactions, but was constantly inculcated
at the Ophthalmic Hospital in Warwick street, to my certain
knowledge, both by Dr. Forbes and Mr. Guthrie, the phy-
sician and surgeon to that institution.

In the May of 1827, Mr. Guthrie pushed his inquiries still
further: he caused an ointment to be made with ten grains of
the nitrate of silver to the drachm of simple ointment, and
tried this in numerous cases. After several formule, vari-
ously modified, had been essayed, he finally decided on a
preparation containing the argentum nitratum with Goulard’s
extract, mixed up with lard; he also employed an ointment
made with the oxymuriate (the bi-chloride) of mercury, and
another composed of simple cerate and the sulphas cupri,
five grains to the drachm; but these latter he soon aban-
doned. These applications were employed by him in the
various ophthalmiz, acute and chronic, affecting the con-
junctiva, the cornea, and the sclerotica; also in cases of
nebula; but in these latter affections the milder stimuli are
more properly required, as the disease generally takes a long
time for its removal, and a milder, and at the same time a
more frequently renewed, stimulus has a greater effect in
exciting the absorbents to action. The celebrated French
surgeon, Dupuytren, employs in this disease a combination of
equal parts of calomel, sugar, and oxide of zinc, blown into
the eye. Various other surgeons have tested the powers of
these applications, and all speak in their favour; some more
sparingly than others. Mr. Mackenzie, of Glasgow, is one
of those who do not speak so highly of these remedies as they
deserve; which need not excite our admiration, as he has
hitherto employed a bad preparation. Mr. Lawrence has

Essential Oil of Lemons. 75

every wish to give the stimulant treatment a fair trial, but he

has not as yet employed it in any case.

The theory on which this peculiar plan was first introduced
was founded on an opinion of John Hunter's, which has
become almost an axiom in medicine, viz. “ that no two dis-
eases can exist at one and the same time in the same consti-
tution.” That which he applied to the system generally has
been adopted in reference to a single organ of that system:
in consequence, it was conceived that, by exciting a more
severe inflammation in the eye than that which already
existed, but at the same time of shorter duration, a cure

_ would be effected of the original malady. Whether this
theory be or be not a valid one, it matters little, so long as
the treatment deduced from it be successful; and that it has
hitherto been attended with success, is amply proved by the
records in the various medical journals of this and other

_ countries, and by the case-books of the various ophthalmic
institutions, where it has been fairly tried. In saying this, 1
am not alluding to any particular formula, to any peculiar
preparation, but to all those remedies which come under the
general head of external stimulants. Neither do I mean to
aver that in no cases has it been unsuccessful: in some few,
probably from idiosyncrasy, or extreme nervousness, the
stimulant application appears to have done harm, and was
necessarily abandoned; but these serve only to form the ex-
ception to the rule.

nder such circumstances, my ophthalmic lore havin

been acquired in a sthenic school, if | may so term it, it wil
scarcely be wondered at that, knowing from experience the
stimulating properties of the essential oil of lemons, when in
contact with the conjunctiva, | should be ready to admit its
powers in the treatment of ophthalmia, and anxious to test its
properties. For this purpose, the Royal Westminster Oph-
thalmic Hospital offered me an ample field.

In the year 1529, the following paragraph, which appeared
in the Collectanea department of the London Medical and
Physical Journal, under the head “Surgery,” first directed
my attention to this essential oil as a remedial agent in affec-
tions of the eye.

* Lifficacy of Lemon-juice in some Diseases of the Eye.
(From the Journal fir Chirurgie und Augenheilkunde.)
M. Werlitz thus employs this novel remedy. He cuts a slice
of lemon-peel about an inch long and half an inch broad,
_— the outer part opposite the aflected eye, the eyelids

ing opened, and by slight pressure squeezes out the little
‘drops of volatile oil contained in the tissue of. the rind into

ES ela lee. lt ten tl acai | gl

76 . Mr. Foote on the Use of the

the eye. The sensation produced is acute, and continues
for an hour or two. If the pain caused should be severe,
cold applications are to be employed. The oil of the lemon-
peel appears to increase thecapillary circulation, and to cause
the absorption of morbid depositions.

‘From experiments which have been made at La Charité
at Berlin, it appears that the following diseases are remedied
by this treatment: 1. Inflammations of the eye which are
passing into a chronic state, and which affect the external
parts, as the conjunctiva, cornea, or sclerotic, particularly if
the small vessels are turgid. M. W. has also found the re-
medy useful in rheumatic, gonorrhceal, and scrofulous oph-
thalmia. 2. In pannus and pterygium. 3. In albugo and
opacity of the cornea. 4. When the texture of the cornea
has lost its healthy density, and becomes soft and spongy.
The remedy may be employed frequently during the day,
depending upon the degree of irritation it produces. M. W.
relates seven cases of cures of various diseases of the eye
effected by this treatment.”

There are perhaps few persons who are unacquainted with
the stimulant properties of the essential oil contained in the
follicles of the bark or rind of the lemon or orange, as, in peel-
ing these fruit, it frequently happens that a follicle or two
burst, and a particle of the essence gets lodged in the con-
junctiva. It was probably an accident of this kind which first
induced Mr. Werlitz to try its powers in inflammations of the
eye, and thus add another remedy to the list of the ophthal-
mic materia medica. Having obtained the permission of Mr.
Guthrie at a period far antecedent to the time when I actually
availed myself of it, I have recently given this essential oil a
trial at the Ophthalmic Hospital, in various inflammations,
more especially the catarrhal, which the peculiar constitution
of the atmosphere at the present time has rendered epidemic.
In the majority of cases in which I applied it, | found it suc-
cessful; in a few it appeared not to be of use, and the appli-
cation of cupping-glasses to the temple was ultimately
required. It generally caused pain, varying in duration from
half an hour to three, and also in intensity in different indivi-
duals. In one person, a gentleman of the medical profession,
having increased vascularity of the eyelid, and who had been
accustomed to have the vinum opii applied, it excited pain to
such a degree that he declared his eye felt as if on fire; but
this unpleasant symptom went off in about ten minutes;
another person, to whose eye I applied it, said that the pain
it occasioned was trifling, and not at all to be compared with
that which arises from the application of the vinum opii.

Essential Oil of Lemons. 77

: Such is the difference of sensibility in different individuals;
and I may add, that both experienced benefit fromit. I have
deemed it necessary, in general, to administer aperients and
other medicines, in some of the cases in which I employed it,

according to the severity of the symptoms indicating general

irritation. ;
: M. Werlitz does not apply the oil at all in a scientific or
satisfactory manner. His method of squirting the essence

from the rind appears to me to be both rude and coarse, and
could searcely be employed in private practice ; I have there-
__ fore adopted another way, which I shall shortly mention. In

_ strumous ophthalmia, it is exceedingly difficult, from the
tumefaction of the eyelids and the restlessness of the child, so
to separate the eyelids as to obtain a view of the eye itself,
and, under such circumstances, it would be next to impossible
to keep them open a sufficient length of time, until the ope-
rator shall have properly injected the drop. In the trials to
which | have subjected it, 1 have invariably used the essential
oil of lemon of the shops, and have dropped it in the eye in
the same manner that the vinum opii is applied, namely, with

a quill cut in the shape of a pen, but rounded off, instead of
‘ having a point. It requires to be dropped in very speedily,
as it rapidly volatilizes. I have always, when it has been in
my power, applied the essence once a-day, but it has occa-
» sionally happened that the patients have neglected attendance
for two, three, or more days, and have then returned much
worse than they were previously. I may also add, that
occasionally, even when they were regular in their attendance,
a relapse would take place; and this occurred in a most
remarkable manner, on Saturday the Ist of June. On the
preceding day, several cases were reported as rapidly
improving, or nearly convalescent, and yet, on the Ist, with
“nga one exception, they returned with a fresh attack.
only one or two cases relapsed, 1 might have attributed
it to negligence and inattention to my directions on the part
_ of the patient, or to exposure to cold; but, as by far the ma-
jority of the cases were similarly affected, I could not avoid
considering it as something remarkable, and dependent on
_ some change in the atmosphere.

In summing up, I may say, I have employed the essence of
lemons in various acute and chronic inflammations, in opacity
of the cornea, and the purulent and muco-purulent anhihale
mia, but not in pannus, pterygium, or albugo; cases of the
latter description not having come under my care latterly.
I should consider, from the nature of the complaints, that it
may prove advantageous in albugo, butin regard to the other

78 Mr. Foote on the Use of the

two diseases, I should be very dubious of its powers. On the
whole, I believe it to be preferable to the vinum opii inall cases
where a stimulant is indicated, and equal, in many, to the
unguentum argent. nitratis, but falling short of it in others;
while the great facility with which it may be obtained and
applied, renders it a great acquisition to the country surgeon,
who would find it inconvenient to spend a couple of hours
over the mortar in pulverizing the nitrate of silver, with the
prospect that, when he has made his ointment, he may be
unable to use it, from the circumstance that he has left a few
granules of the nitrate not sufficiently fine, and which no’
after-treatment will be able properly to reduce. Ihave tried
it in about five and twenty cases; and shall subjoin ibe detail
of a few, with which I shall conclude.

Case I. Catarrhal Ophthalmia, treated by the Oleum Limonum.

Sarah Lawrence, etat. twenty-three, admitted the 17th May,
1833. Catarrhal inflammation of the left eye, of a month’s dura-
tion; The disease was not noticed for the first week, but was
afterwards treated by a surgeon; leeches were applied to the
temple, a blister behind the ear, lotions, and medicines internally ;
she says the eye improved a little under the treatment pursued.
She complains of pain in the eye and parts adjacent, so severe as
nearly to prevent her sleeping at night; considerable lachrymation,
tears scalding; vision misty; the eyelids used to adhere in the
morning, but not for the last two or three days. Her general health
is somewhat affected by the disease, appetite failing, tongue rather
furred, bowels open. The conjunctiva of the ball and eyelids
injected and inflamed, the affection of the lids being the more
intense; a pustule forming on the lower margin of the cornea.
The vessels of the conjunctiva of the ball are more of a pink colour,
but do not form the zone around the cornea. Neither the cornea
nee the iris are affected—App. Ol. Ess. Limon. gutt. ad ocul.:

k. Magnes. Sulphatis 5i.; Infusi Sennze comp. lb.ss. solve. Capiat
ee larga ij. omni mane primo.

20th. The pain and inflammation are diminished, and vision is
improving; the pustule is small; bowels opened by medicine.—
Rep. Ol. Limon. et Mist. purgans.

2ist. Inflammation very much diminished.—Rep. Ol. Limon.

22d. The pain has nearly gone; vision considerably improved.
—Rep. Ol. Limon. et Mist. purgans.

23d. Vision is as perfect as ever. Slight inflammation of the
eyelids still exists.

27th. Is going into the country. To have the vinum opii
dropped in occasionally.

: "Essential Oil of Lemons. 79

~ Case Ul. Catarrhal Inflammation in a Strumous Constitution,
treated by the Oleum Limonum and Alteratives.

William Minnifit, eetat. three, was admitted May the 17th, 1833;
a child of strumous constitution, and apparently in ill health. The
conjunctiva of the eyelids and ball of the left eye are very much
_ inflamed, the cornea slightly participating, and having a small speck
_ near the centre; there is considerable lachrymation, tears scalding,
attended with pain and intolerance of light; he cannot open the
eye. The bowels are not regular, and he is rather feverish.—App.

. Limon. Rk. Hyd. cum Creta, gr. ij.; Pulv. Rhei, gr. ij. M.
fiat puly. sumat i. nocte maneque.

20th. His vision is improved, and he can bear the light better;
_ the pain and inflammation are diminished; bowels open.—Rep. Ol.
_ Limon. et Pulv.
a 22d. Improving.—Rep.

27th. Has not attended since the 22d. The inflammation is

- greater, and all the symptoms are materially increased in severity.

—Rep. Ol. Limon. et Pulveres, nocte maneque sumend.
Bist. Rather better.—Cont.
June 3d. Nearly well.—Rep.
5th. Dismissed, cured.

Case Ill. Pustular Inflammation, treated by the Ol. Limon.
Frederick Plumber, wtat. six, admitted 17th May, 1833; a child ,
of a strumous habit of body. Has pustular inflammation of the
right eye, of five days’ duration. There is a pustule on the outer,
another on the inner margin of the cornea, attended with in-
flammation of the conjunctiva of the ball and lids. There is not °
much pain at present. Has merely applied a bread and water
Itice, and taken aperient medicine.—App. Ess. Limon. Pulv.
5 yd. cum CretA et Rheo i. nocte maneque sumend.
20th, Is nearly well; the pustules are scarcely visible-—Rep.
22d. Dismissed.

Case 1V. Pustular Inflammation, treated by the Ol. Limon.
Mary Mirvin, wt. six, admitted May 24th, 1833, with pustular
inflammation affecting the lower margin of the cornea of the left
eye, attended with vascularity of the conjunctiva covering that
; considerable lachrymation and pain. The disease has existed
a month; child otherwise healthy —App. Ol. Limon. Pulv, Hyd.
cum Creti, cum Rheo, n. m. sumend.
25th. There is less pain, and vision is improved; the pustule is
smaller, and the ager nord is diminished.—Ol. Limon. et pulveres.
27th. Improving. Bowels not open.—Rep. Oleum Limon.
R. Magn. Sulph. 31. fiant pulveres tres, sumat i. p. r. n.
June Ist. Nearly well.—Rep.
3d. Rep. Oleum, et Magnesice Sulphas.
7th, Dismissed.

SO Mr. Foote on the Use of the :

Case V. Opacity of the Cornea, treated by the Ol. Limon.

Fanny Folkes, etat. eleven, was admitted an in-patient in the
Westminster Hospital, with opacities on each cornea. Her eyes
had been bad for the period of two years, the disease being the
result of inflammation. Her vision is very imperfect; she cannot
distinguish letters. The opacities are nearly central, attended with
a general muddiness of the cornea. Has been under treatment
for some time, but without deriving any advantage. There is not
any inflammation of the eye, or its appendages, at present.

June 7th, (ten days after admission.) The essential oil of
lemons has been applied daily, with the effect of producing consi-

derable smarting pain, lasting about a quarter of an hour. The ©

general muddiness of the cornea is much diminished; the nebule
are not so evident as when she was admitted, and _ her vision is so
much improved that she can distinguish the letters, and spell them,
on her admission-ticket. Her bowels have been regulated by me-
dicine occasionally.—Let her continue.

Case VI. Muco-purulent Ophthalmia, followed by Erysipelas of
the Face, extending to the Eyelids, treated with the Ol. Limon.
and the Tartar Emetic.

Timothy Fitzpatrick, etat. fifty, a man of a sanguineous tempe-
rament, short and stout, has been in attendance a considerable
period.

About two years ago, he lost the sight of the left eye from in-
flammation, in consequence of which the cornea and other parts
became disorganized, and the cavity of the anterior chamber lost,
the cornea lucida being completely flattened. He has been an
out-patient occasionally several times since, for attacks of inflam-
mation affecting the conjunctiva covering the ball and lining the
eyelids. ;

During the night of the 14-15th of May, 1833, he suffered from
a fresh accession of pain in the left eye, attended with a considera-
ble discharge, the pain chiefly at the outer canthus. He does not
know any cause for this attack; says he has not caught cold
lately, nor has anything got into the eye that he is aware of. On
examining the organ (May 15th,) there appears: considerable in-
flammation of the conjunctiva of the ball and lids, that membrane
being exceedingly vascular and chemosed; a fluid of a muco-
purulent character is constantly and rapidly secreted; the pain

continuing at the outer canthus. [Several symptoms are here~

either wanting or masked, in consequence of the loss of vision ;
such as the aversion to, and the inability to bear, the light, the
degree to which vision is affected by the inflammation, &c.] The
tongue is covered with awhitish fur, and the bowels are regular.—
Applicatur gutta Olei Essentialis Limonis. Capiat Magnesiz
Sulphatis 5i. mane.

d
y
A

:

"

f bt Essential Oil of Lemons. 81

16th. The application of the drop did not cause much pain,
nor did it last any length of time. The eye felt easier for some
time after, the original pain in the canthus beginning to return
about nine in the evening, when he went to bed. He could not
sleep, from the pain. The discharge appears to be rather increased,
and there is a blush of erysipelatous inflammation on the left
cheek, extending to the eyelids, which are tumefied and inflamed
externally and internally; the cheek and eyelids are puffy; skin
hot; no pain in the head, but it continues at the outer canthus,
rather however as soreness than actual pain; the tongue is covered
with a dirty-brown fur; a slight acceleration of pulse. The salts
operated well.—Rep. Ol. Limon. App. Ung. Cetacei palpebris
nocte. Aqua tepida sepe indies injicienda. R. Antimonii
Tartarizato, grana duo; Magnesie Sulphatis, unciam; Aquee,
uncias octo. Solve, fiat mistura. Capiat cochlearia ampla duo
omni hora.

17th. The drop gave him considerable pain. He passed a
better night. There is not so much tumefaction of the lids, nor
general inflammation; he thinks that there is more discharge, but
that it is thicker. The mixture opened the bowels freely, and
excited slight nausea; tongue furred.—Rep. Ol. Limon. Lotio
Aluminis seepe utend. Rep. mixture, sumatur dosis omni bihora.

19th. The tumefaction has nearly entirely subsided; he can open
the eye very easily; sleeps well; the inflammation of the eye
abating, and discharge lessening; the erysipelatous blush has
almost gone, as likewise the discoloration of the eyelids; tongue
continues furred; bowels open.—Persistet in usu omnium medi-
camentorum.

22d. Improving.—Rep.

From this date to the 3d of June he gradually improved; there
remained then very little discharge, and that depending on a gra-
nular state of the eyelids, which has latterly come on. No pain or
uneasiness.—Ordered the Sulphas Cupri, to remove the granulated

appearance of the lids.

Case VII. Purulent Ophthalmia, dependent on Leucorrhea in the
Mother; Use of Ol. Limonum.

David Davis, aged six weeks, was admitted May 22d, 1833,
with purulent ophthalmia of both eyes, of five weeks’ duration.
The mother has had leucorrhawa for some time previous to parturi-
tion, and it still continues on her. The child’s eyes appeared weak
soon after birth, but she could not ascertain the exact period
when they became inflamed. Within a week however after birth,
purulent matter, of a proper consistence and yellowish colour, was
secreted abundantly from each eye, the lids at the same time being
very much tumefied. The mother has never done anything for

, Bave cleansing them now and then with warm water. There
is at present considerable discharge of a tenacious, yellowish
M

82 Use of the Essential Oil of Lemons.

matter, attended with inflammation of the eyelids, which are not
so tumefied as they were; the inflammation extends, but in a
milder degree, to the ball of the eyes; on the centre of the cornez
there is a speck already formed. The child can open the eyes, but
not easily; its health has suffered very much; the bowels are open,
but the stools are of a dark colour, and the little patient is very
much emaciated.—Applicetur Oleum Limonum ocul. sing. Pulv.
alter. i. nocte maneque sumendus. ‘To continue the injection of
warm water between the eyelids, and that frequently.

24th. The discharge is very slight; can open the eyelids easily;
the eyeballs appear to be nearly clear from inflammation, which is
also lessened on the lids. The bowels are open; stools of a green-
ish colour. It appears that, by mistake, the wrong powders were
given, and the child had a large dose of the tartarized antimony,
instead of the alterative powder which had been directed.—Rep.
Ol. Limon. Puly. alterat. ss. n. et m. sumend.*

25th. Is still much affected by the powders, the same kind
having been given as at last report. There is rather more discharge
from the left, but very little from the right.—Rep. Ol. Limon. Not
to have any powders. .

27th. A little better.—Rep. OI.

28th. Discharge lessened; is altogether improved.—Cont.

3ist. Nearly well.—Rep.

June Ist. There appears to be an increase of discharge, and the
child is not so well.—Rep.

4th. There is more discharge and inflammation, and the lids
are again tumefied.—Rep. Ol. Limon. Hyd. cum Creta, gr. ij.
Pulv. p. r. n. sumend.

6th. Discharge much diminished.—Rep.

7th. Very little purulent matter secreted.—Cont.

9th. Nearly well.—Rep.

* When this order was given, the mistake already recorded was not ascer-
tained to have happened.

85

MEDICAL PLANTS MENTIONED BY SHAKSPEARE.

Observations upon some of the Medical Plants mentioned by
Shakspeare. Communicated by Samvuet Roorsey, Esq.,
Corresponding Member of the Medico-Botanical Society.

Hemlock. 1 was lately inquiring the particular species
which the Welsh call Cegyd, and was told it differed from
hemlock. Hemlock, they said, grew in gardens, like parsley;
but Cegyd grew in moist hedges, with a smooth spotted stalk.
Shakspeare likewise speaks of hemlock as a corn-field plant,
which can be no other than the Aithusa Cynapium.

« Crown’d with rank fumiter and furrow weeds,
With barlocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckow-flowers,

Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow
In our sustaining corn.”—Lear, act 1v. sc. 4.

In another place he is very precise in distinguishing it from
kecksies, by which name I have always heard the Conium
maculatum distinguished in Essex.
«« Her fallow leas

The darnel, hemlock, and rank fumitory

Doth feed upon, while that the coulter rusts

That should deracinate such savagery.

The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth

The freckled cowslip, burnet, and green clover,

Wanting the scythe, all uncorrected rank

Conceives by idleness, and nothing teems

But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burs,

Losing both beauty and utility.”—K. Henry V., acty. sc. 2.

This word kecksies is evidently the Welsh Cegyd, and the
Latin Cicuta.

It was the root of hemlock which was used as an ingredient
in the poisonous cauldron of the Witches in Macbeth.

** The root of hemlock digg’d in the dark.”’—Act iv. sc. 1.

As the Conium maculatum is likely to be meant in this
place, I think the Aithusa should be called by Withering’s
name of lesser hemlock.

The etymology of the word hemlock is obscure. I consi-
der that the word is derived from its ill smell, and consists of
the aspirate H prefixed to the radix, which in Greek is Moly,
from porwrw, to moil, or defile. Hence it is properly applica-
ble to the Allium Moly, and the Ligusticum Pelopponense,
which latter I suppose to have been the Concion of the
Greeks,

Fumiter, or Fumitory. This double orthography of our
poet illustrates the etymology of this word. It takes its

;

84 Observations on some of the Medical Plants

name of Fumus terre from its almost aerial lightsomeness
and glaucous colour.

Thistle. The word thistle seems to belong to the Dip-
sacus, called in English Teasle, and in Latin Carduus, from
its having the shape of a heart. Wool is carded and teased
by means of the Dipsacus fullonum. I suppose it takes the
name of Dipsacus from its thirsty nature; for in all weathers
it holds between its leaves an abundance of water.

Harlock, Charlock, Scharlock, and Scarlet, seem to be
the same word with garlick, and perhaps carrot, and origi-
nally applicable to the Sinapis arvensis, or the Allium moly,
or some other plant of a more orange colour. In this neigh-
bourhood, the name of Carlock cups is given to the Ranun-
culi, and perhaps the Caltha; and, after all, the Calendula
may be the true plant from whence the name of scarlet is
derived.

Nettles, I have no doubt, receive their name from their use
as a substitute for hemp in the construction of nets, and
therefore the word applies to Urtica, although in this place it
may be supposed as equally applicable to Lamium, or the
dead nettle.

Cuckoo-flowers. This name is applied to three genera,
Cardamine, Lychnis, and Orchis. On asking a poor woman
for the name of the Lychnis diocia alba, she said it was called
Ladies’ attire:

« And lady-smocks, all silver white,
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue.’’—Love’s Labour Lost, act v. sc. 2.

a name certainly preferable to that of our poet for the Carda-
mine pratensis, to which he evidently applies it. ‘The orchis
here is called Ganderglasses and Gandergaws, but in Essex
Cuckoo-flower. ‘The woodseer, called in the New Forest
Cuckoo-spit, and which, as I was informed in Sweden, the
peasants there consider as the cause of madness in cattle,
abounds upon the Lychnis and the Cardamine, and seems to
indicate why they should bear the name of Cuckoo-flowers.
Linnzus gives to the Ragged Robin the name of Flos cuculi,
which I consider to be less entitled to it than the dioica; for
I believe the latter to be Shakspeare’s plant. The flowers
of the Cardamine are considered to be antispasmodic; but,
in the New Forest, the Genista anglica is administered to
children for those convulsions that accompany dentition.
The cuckoo-buds of the above passage must be the Caltha
palustris, and may possibly be our author’s cuckoo-flowers.
Darnel is said to be a poison which destroys the sight: its
quality is narcotic, and its name I suppose to be from the

mentioned by Shakspeare. 85

same radix as the Greek dap3avw, dormio. The word ray, or
in French juray, seems to be the Greek apa, and to mean
poison, as es @ris in Latin, whence @rugo.

« "Twas full of darnet, do you like the taste ?”—1st Part K. H. VI. act iii. se. 2.

Burnet, in Latin sanguisorba, so called from its use being
chiefly confined to young females, appears to me to be equi-
yalent to the Greek word parthenium, a name generally ap-
plied to another plant used as an emmenagogue.

Cowslips. ‘The soporific principle of these flowers may
perhaps reside in their freckles. The poet has pointed to it,
in his Midsummer Night's Dream, with peculiar beauty and
elegance :

“The cowslips tall her pensioners be,
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours:
In those freckles live their savours.
I must go seek some dewdrops here,
And hang a pear! in every cowslip’s ear.” —Act ii. sc. 1.

The agreeable odour of these flowers would indicate that the
virtue, if extracted by the chemist, might combine the ad-
vantages of opium with those of saffron; and the profusion in
which the plant is found renders it very deserving the atten-
tion of the physician.

Clover. ‘This, I imagine, derives its name from its leaf
being cloven: it would then have the same meaning as clubs
at cards.

Docks. This herb may take its name from its penetrating
into the ground. A dog may also be supposed to be named
from the propensity of the terrier to dig into the earth.
The genus Rumex, particularly the species Hydrolapathum,
or Aquaticus, presents us with an excellent astringent. Its
affinity to the rhubarb, and the use made of the species R.
acutus, would entitle it to rank high in the materia medica.
The Britannica of the ancients was our common water-dock,
and I am not aware that we possess a more powerful or more
eligible native astringent than this plant.

urs. Woodville, in his Medical Botany, figures the
Arctium lappa, which prefers a drier situation than the A.
Bardana; the latter must therefore be considered the plant
of Shakspeare. ‘The name is doubtless of the same meaning
as briar, and seems to imply that it is borne away by the
Passing traveller, to whose clothes the flowers or the stems
strongly adhere.

Darnel. 1 might have remarked, under Darnel, that the
Myrica gale seems to possess a similar intoxicating property,
and is used sparingly for that purpose in Norway, in their

86 Observations on some of the Medical Plants

drink. Being driven, by stress of weather, into Humbroe
Sound, near Lillasand, I entered the house of the pilot, who
had a great bunch hung up in his room. He spoke English,
and, in answer to a question of mine, he informed me of its
use there, and that its English name was porse.

Mandrake. There are two plants which are denominated
Mandrake by our countrymen; they have large and forked
roots. Of these, the Bryonia diocia is largest, white, and
hairy; the Tamus communis is smaller, dark, and smooth.
Shakspeare compares Justice Shallow to these roots.

«©T do remember him at Clement’s Inn, like a man made after supper of a
cheese-paring. When he was naked, he was for all the world like a forked
radish, with a head fantastically carved upon it with a knife; he was the very

genius of famine, yet lascivious as a monkey, and they called him Mandrake.”
King Henry IV. act iil. sc. 2.

The etymology of the word is from its root being generally
divided and forked, like a man.

‘«« Semihominis mandragore flores.””— Colum. ~

It is also denominated Mandragon by Gerard. ‘The English
word man exists in the Latin humanus; likewise in the
Hebrew, and other languages. In the present instance, it is
found in the Greek combined with the word dracon, from
depxw, aspicio.

Littleton supposes the word is substituted for andragoras,
from ayn, vir, and ayopew, loquor. ‘‘ Quod humanam spe-
ciem quodammodo etiam vocem quum evellitur, si vera tra-
dunt referat ejulans?” To this Shakspeare adverts:

«¢ And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth:
That living mortals, hearing them, run mad.”—R.§ Jul. a.iv. s. 2.

Again,
«© Would curses kill as doth the mandrake’s groan,
V’d—” 2d Part K. Henry VI, act iii. se. 2.

From hence it appears that the plant was believed to utter a
horrible and fatal shriek when dug out of the earth.

We receive a small forked root from Chinese 'Tartary, the
name of which is Ginseng. I have always believed that the
Chinese etymology of this word was Jin-seang, (vide Morr.
8868,) Mr. Morrison, however, in No. 8803, gives it diffe-
rently; and in part iii. p. 187, he gives it thus, jén-san, from
jin, a man, and san, gradual; its slow growth being supposed ,
according to him, to have suggested the name. I am still of
opinion that the form 8803 is rather derived from 5868, or
jin-seang, man’s likeness; and I have no doubt but it has the
same meaning as the word mandrake, although the origin of
the term may have been obscured by its antiquity.

Mr. Morrison illustrates the use of this root in the follow-

mentioned by Shakspeare. 87

ing paragraph, which, as it indicates its virtue, I may be
pardoned for transcribing. ‘‘ The true Shang-tang gin-seng
may be essayed by two men walking together a few miles,
one having jin-san in his mouth, and the other with his
mouth empty. When he who has nothing in his mouth is
nting exceedingly, the other's breath will be just as usual.”
his passage reminded me of Shakspeare’s
“ One poor pennyworth of sugar-candy, to make thee long-winded.”
King Henry IV. act iii. sc. 3.
Thus, ginseng appears to be chewed in the celestial empire
as tobacco is with us. Loureiro shews that the Canadian
root, Nin-sing, is very different in quality, as well as in ap-
pearance. Galen, writing of mandrake, observes, that its
virtue resides in its rind, or bark, and he considers it as cold
in the highest degree. By his terms, hot and cold, we must
understand the acrid and the narcotic of modern toxicolo-
gists; and those plants the temperature of which, by the old
writers, was considered as of the third and fourth degree,
must merit our particular attention. The plant of Galen was
the Atropa mandragora, and the Circzeum of Pliny, employed
by Circe in her incantations. Shakspeare alludes to it when,
to imply madness, he says,
“I think you all have drank of Circe’s cup.”’—C. of Errors, act v. sc. 1.
And again,
“ Or have we eaten of the insane-root,

That takes the reason prisoner!—Macleth, acti. sc. 3.
As the lurid Solanum Melongena, Melanzana, or Mala insana,
mad-apples, is evidently named from its effect upon the
brain, so the analogous root of the Atropa mandragora must
be the insane-root of Shakspeare. It was also administered
in the liquid form; for Cleopatra says,

“Ha, ha,

Give me to drink mandragora, ‘

That I might sleep out this great gap of time,””—Ant. & Cl. a.i. sc.5,
The syrup of it was likewise given as the syrup of poppy :

* Not poppy nor mandragora,
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou badst yesterday,’’—Othello, act iii. sc. 5.

As the hemlock and the mandrake, so the hebenon, &c.
were directed to be gathered at midnight.*

* Thoughts black, hands up, drugs fit, and time agreeing,
Confederate season, else no creature seeing.
Thou mixture rank of midnight weeds collected,
With Heeate’s ban thrice blasted, thrice infected,

* Vide Hebenon, p. 90.

88 Observations on some of the Medical Plants

Thy natural magie and dire property
On wholesome life usurp immediately.’’—Act ii. se. 1.
(Pours the poison into the sleeper’s ears. )

Being a native of the countries of Circe and Medea, it was

no doubt one of those which the latter collected to renovate
A®son.

«Tn such a night
Medea gathered the enchanted herbs
That did renew old 4son.’’

The Parisian Circea Lutetiana is by our botanists denomi-
nated Enchanter’s, or Enchantress’s nightshade; but I gene-
tally give it the shorter name of Hagwort, and, in the manner
of Pythagoras, I dedicate it to the number 2, as the Horse-
chestnut and Ragwort tothe numbers 7 and 13, expressive of
the major and minor modes in music, and of the weeks and
lunations in astronomy.

The mandrake of Scripture, which had a remarkable
smell, was evidently the flewer of a different plant. In Hebrew
it is Dudain or Davidaim, as it were Flos amoris, or Flor-
amor; and hence probably our word Daffodils .

«That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty.”— Winter's Tale, act iv. sc. 3.

The daffodils of Milton were, however, our Crown imperials,
as, lamenting the death of Lycidas, he says, alluding to the
nectaries of that flower,

««Bid Amaranthus all his beauties shed,
And Daffodillies fill their cups with tears,
To strew the laureate hearse where Lycid lies.”’

Poppy. Waving found that our Foxglove is denominated
poppies in the New Forest, I have inquired in this neigh-
bourhood also, and find that it bears the same name here;
and sometimes it is contracted into pops. A reason is given,
that the flowers can be popped upon the hand. The Papaver
therefore is improperly called in English by that name. The
seeds of the purple Papaver are known by the name of maw-
seed, which indicates the proper English appellation of that
plant; and this agrees with its name in the different lan-
guages that are dialects of the Teutonic, and also with the
Greek mecon, &c. Shakspeare, however, when he alludes
to its entering into the composition of drowsy syrups, must
have meant the Papaver somniferum.

Long purples. The name of Foxglove, or Folk’s-gloves,
Finger-flower, or Digitalis, and Dogfingers, as it is called in
Wales, together with the magnificent spike of purple flowers
borne by the Digitalis purpurea, induce me to conjecture that
this plant is alluded to by our illustrious poet as long purples:

mentioned by Shakspeare. 89

«There is a willow grows ascant the brook,
That shews bis hoar leaves in the glassy stream ;
Therewith fantastic garlands did she make
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead-men’s fingers call them.”’—Hamlet,iv.7.
f The common blue-bells, to which my late excellent friend,
R.A. Salisbury, Esq. attached the epithet of festalis, might
; say be thought to be the garland-flower of Ophelia; but
ightfoot says it is the Orchis mascula, though Martyn con-
siders that the name of Dead-men’s fingers would better apply
to the palmated species. Lightfoot, thinking probably that
he had discovered the liberal name, may have supposed, upon
this foundation alone, that the plant was an orchis. What
this liberal name is in reality may be known to gentle shep-
herds, but by me is only supposed to be the same which
Dampier has applied to a South American tree, whose flowers
may perhaps resemble those of our digitalis in form, if not in
colour. n Hampshire, the Lotus corniculatus is called
__ dead-men’s fingers, but in the vicinity of Bristol the plant
has various names; fingers and toes, devil’s fingers, devil’s
claws, and crow-toes. ‘The last seems to point it out as the
tufted crow-toe of Milton’s Lycidas. Gerard, however, in his
Index, applies this name to the hyacinth, which, by Johnson,
in his supplementary Appendix to his edition of Gerard, is
led crow-leek.
_ Gerard gives the name of
_ Crow-flowers to the Lychnis floscuculi, while to another
species, the dioica, he has attached that of crow-soap, which
x latter, in Johnson's appendix, is made synonymous with Sapo-
_ maria, or soapwort. think none of these were the crow-
flowers of the poet. The Caltha palustris is called by that
‘name in this part of the country, and is much used by children
in their garlands and festivities, together with the flowers of
Ranunculus bulbosus and R. acris, which are called Craysies
and Mayfiowers. ‘The latter term in Middlesex is given to
_ the Iris palustris. In Essex, the flowers called May are those
of the Prunus spinosa, rather than the Crateegus oxyacantha.
This discrepancy in our English names may be considered
as a reproach to science ; but the botanist, who delights in
the contemplation and study of wild words as well as wild
flowers, may find an ample field, or rather garden, for his
erudition, in comparing the synonymes of British and Euro-
pean plants, especially those whose faculties were discovered
and appreciated by our experienced and benevolent ances-
, who extended their researches
To every herb that sips the dew.’’

4

<->

i

90 Observations on some of the Medical Plants

The Caltha I take to be the Mary-buds of Shakspeare.
«« And winking mary-buds begin
To ope their golden eyes,
With everything that pretty bin,
My lady sweet arise.’’—Cymbeline, act il. sc. 3.

The Marygold is the Calendula.

«The marygold that goes to bed with the sun,
And with him rises weeping.”’—Winter’s Tale, activ. sc. 3.

Hebenon. Shakspeare ascribes the death of Hamlet to the
juice of hebenon having been poured into his ear. As he
beautifully describes the action of the poison, I transcribe the
entire passage.

Ghost. ‘* Sleeping within mine orchard,
(My custom always of the afternoon, )
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed hebenon ina vial,
And in the porches of mine ears did pour
The leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an enmity with blood of man,
That, swift as quicksilver, it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body,
And, with a sudden vigour, it doth posset
And curd, like eager droppings into milk,
The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine;
And a most instant tetter bark’d about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body.”’—Hamlet, act i. sc. 5.

The word hebenon means black, the / being a non-essential
letter.* Hence I conceive this plant to have been the Atropa
Belladonna, which, where it is wild in Glocestershire, is by the
country people called, from the colour of its fruit, Inkberries.
From the following passage, I think it may have been used for
poisoning darts and javelins:

“« Love’s golden arrow at him should have fled,
And not death’s ebon dart, to strike him dead.” —Ven. and Adon.

I make no doubt that the name of Henbane is a corruption
of hebenon, and strictly applicable to the blackberry of the
Dwale, so called from its effect in making us dud/ and sullen.
(Hence Solanum? Lethale.)

« And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed
That roots itself in ease on Lethe’s wharf,
Wouldst thou not stir in this.?”>—Hamlet, acti. sc. 5.

As for the word nightshade, given probably from its forming
a shed for the night, this seems appropriate to the dulcamara,
whose bending twigs form an arbour like the clematis. I once
imagined, though I have not had an opportunity of proving
it, that the nightshade possessed the property of shedding

and diffusing a peculiar smell during the night, and that it
* Vide Mandrake, p. 87.

. mentioned by Shakspeare. 91
- derived its name accordingly. This property has furnished
_ appellations to the lily and the lilac. Whether the coagulations
of the blood and the eruptions upon the skin, which attended
_ the exhibition of hebenon, characterize the operation of bella-
donna, | must submit to the judgment of toxicologists, but I
believe the description applies more strictly to that medicine
_ than to any other.
Heart's-ease. 'Thereis an interesting, and as I am informed
an ancient custom, which has descended to the present day,
now existing in some parts of Wales, that, when a lady wishes
_to deviate from the usual practice of waiting for certain ad-
-yances to be made by the other sex, she, in a graceful and
elegant manner, by presenting the gentleman with a flower of
the Viola tricolor, is understood to make the first overture;
_and thus silently, but expressively, relief is made to supersede
the anxiety of mind which is occasioned by a state of uncev-
tainty and inquietude. Hence the name of Heart’s-ease.

AY * Musicians, O musicians! Heart’s-ease, Heart’s ease! Oh,
ry An you will have me live, play Heart's-ease.”—
«Why Heart’s-ease?”—
**Ohb, musicians, because my heart itself plays
* My heart is full of woe !?’’—Romeo and Juliet, act iv. sc. 5,
The French word pensezx, supposed to be pronounced by
the flower at the moment it is presented, as if conscious of
the tale it bears, is the origin of our Pansey. Nothing can
‘be more poetical than Shakspeare’s use of this all but inno-
cent flower, in his Midsummer Night's Dream, from which
we naturally derive another etymology, that of
i" “ These blue-veined tiolets whereon we lean.’’—Venus and Adonis.

“1 saw, but thou couldst not,
Cupid ell armed; a certain aim he took
Ata fair vestal, throned by the west,
And loosed his loveshaft smartly from his bow
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts ;
But I might see young Cupid’s fiery shaft
Quench’d in the chaste beams of the watery moon,
And the imperial maiden passed on,
In maiden meditation, fancy free,
Yet mark’d I where the bolt of Cupid fell ;
It fell upon u little western flower,
Before milk white, now purple with Love’s wound,
And maidens call it love in idleness.
Fetch me that flower, the herb 1 shew’d thee once;
ae of it on sleeping eyelids laid,
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that itsees, © *° *

And ere I take this charm off from her sight,
ne 1 can take it with another herb,)
‘Il make ber render up ber page to me,""—Act ii, se, 2.
The medical efficacy of these plants, however, as cordials,
doubtless be lost in the form of syrup, notwithstanding

92 Observations on some of the Medical Plants

its sweetness; and I have chiefly alluded to them for the pur-
pose of inquiring what was the plant intended by Shakspeare,
under the name of Dian's bud, to counteract the charming
influence of Love in idleness.
«« Dian’s bud o’er Cupid’s flower
Hath such force and blessed power.””—Act iv, sc. 1.

Could this by possibility have been the Samolus valerandi?
My curiosity once prompted me, when walking with a farmer
of this neighbourhood, to ask him if he had a name for this
venerated plant, and he informed me he had only once heard
it called Kenningwort by an Englishman, in Wales, who per-
formed remarkable cures as an oculist by its means. He said
the plant received its name from its use in curing that com-
plaint of the eye denominated ‘‘ the Kenning,” which is
‘‘when a substance resembling a pea forms upon the candle
of that organ.” Hence the Samolus, stated by Pliny to have
been worshipped in this island by our ancestors, was probabl
this plant, and considered by them as emblematical of the
efficacy of science in deterging from the intellect the foul
cataracts of ignorance and error. How appropriate to the
purpose of the poet! to dissipate by its agency the halluci-
nation of love, and to dispel all overweening fondness for our
most darling prejudices.

Yew. 'The yew seems to have taken its name from its —
having been employed in the construction of yokes for cattle;
or perhaps, vice versa, the yoke, from its having been made of
yew. In this latter case, the name would be derivable from
the fruit, resembling in its form and in its viscous quality the
yolk of an egg. Perhaps the name exists in the Greek évyea,
our Carpinus, or true Welsh hasel, the workers of which were
the original carpenters. On the Mediterranean shores, the
cypress is used for coffins, because of its incorruptibility, and
the tree is planted over the graves of the dead.

“* Come away, come away, Death,
And in sad cypress let me be laid.””—Twelfth Night, act ii. sc. iv.
«« Cypress black as e’er was crow.’’—Winter’s Tale, act iv. sc. 3.
Again,
“Their sweetest shade a grove of cypress trees.”
‘* A cypress, not a bosom, hides my poor heart.””—Tw.N. ac. iii. 8.1,

The true English name for the Tamaox gallica is Cifris,
evidently similar to cypress, derived from a Hebrew word for
grave, which occurs in the name of a station in Arabia, men-
tioned in the Pentateuch, Kibroth hataavah, or the ‘‘glutton’s
graves.” The word crape is the English radix, ¢onfounded
in orthography with the tree in the above passages. In the
north of Europe the yew is planted for the same reason; its

mentioned by Shakspeare. 95

ughs wave over the hearse, and its sprigs are introduced
into the coffin. Shakspeare, in his Twelfth Night, directs the
shroud to be stuck with it.
«« My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,

Oh, prepare it.’’—Act i. sc. 4.
_ The chemical principle upon which depends the incorrup-
tibility of this benutiful wood, and which renders the tree all
_ but immortal, is probably the same with its poisonous quality,
and which rendered it an important ingredient in the witch’s
cauldron:

«* Gall of goat, and slips of yew,
Stiver’d in the moon’s eclipse.’’—Macbeth, act iv. sc. 1.

_ Tunderstand, insome parts of England, it is the custom as

soon as a person dies, to sponge the corpse over with infusion
of its fresh leaves: this preserves the body from putrefaction,
and preserves it for many weeks. Professor Martyn describes
the case of a young lady, who was accidentally poisoned from
drinking this infusion by mistake, instead of rue tea, as she
was advised. The result was, that although dead, she retained
the bloom of her countenance, so that her attendants believed
her to be only in a trance: she was accordingly kept a long
while uninterred, and was finally buried without any appear-
ance of putrefaction. ‘The importance of this wood in ancient
warfare has suggested the epithet of double-fatal, used by our
author in King Richard IL,, act iii. sc. 2.
** The very beadsmen learn to bend their bows

Of double-fatal yew against thy state.”
- Some have supposed that it was on this account so highly
venerated by our ancestors, and planted by them in our
ehurchyards; but I consider this opinion to be unfounded.
Many of the yew-trees of this country are certainly 3000 years
of age, and I believe that most of those in our churchyards,
which are four feet thick, and some are from eight to twelve,
must be older than the introduction of Christianity into this
kingdom ; but the demonstration and the store of facts which
corroborate and prove my position, are too copious to detail
in this place.
Plantage. “ As true as steel as plantage to the moon.”
Can this be the Alisma? or is it one of the Lunarias or
moonworts? I suppose it is the Alisma plantago. The dedi-
cation of this herb to the moon, or Diaaa, from its temperature
being considered cold, and from its influence upon hydrophobic
patients and lunatics, and also from its seeds being emmena-

ogue, leads me to conjecture that this must be the species
chosen by our poet as the emblem of fidelity. The word

a

94 Observations on some of the Medical Plants

Plantago, Plantage, or Plantain, implying the similarity of
the leaf in shape to the sole of the foot, may be more strictly
applicable to the Plantago major, or the sweet-scented media;
but the virtues of all are very imperfectly known to the scien-
tific world. An individual who was bitten by a mad cat was
not affected with a dread of water till the lapse of a long pe-
riod of time, but she experienced a recurrence of pain and
irritation at every change of the moon, and she was finally
attacked by death, after the regular intermission of a month.
I am therefore of opinion that Shakspeare was acquainted with
the fact that hydrophobia is relieved by the Alisma. It might .
be advantageous to our excellent Society, ifits learned members
were to institute inquiries amongst the poor people of the
country, relative to the properties of this and such like plants,
and not reject hastily and with disdain the important know-
ledge to he sometimes derived from their experience. It was
by such inquiries that my late immortal friend made the dis-
covery of vaccination, which, by philosophical reasoning and
induction, he rendered more and more certain as a preventive
of one of the most distressing “ ills that flesh is heir to.” The
more common use of ordinary plantain as an application to
wounds is likewise noticed by Shakspeare.

“« Benvolio. Take thou some new infection to thy eye,
And the rank poison of the old will die.

Romeo. Your plantain leaf is excellent for that.
Benvolio, For what, I pray you?
Romeo. For your broken shin.””— Romeo and Juliet, acti. sc. 2.

I cannot refrain from mentioning here two instances of the
use of medico-botanical knowledge. The first is the case of
an acquaintance of mine who has long been a cunning work-
man in British fancy woods: he walks rather lame, but occa-
sionally goes a considerable distance. He broke his leg, and
was confined to his chamber for four years. He informs me
that the faculty considered his case as desperate, after trying
all their skill without effect. He was recommended to a cer-
tain plant, which he was directed to apply externally as a poul-
tice. This succeeded; it brought away splinters of bones,
&c., and effected so complete a cure, that in a few weeks he
was enabled to walk and enjoy exercise in the open air as be-)
fore. tis curious that he defied me as a professor of botany
to mention the name of the plant which had afforded him re-
lief; he kept it secret, and assured me he had operated in the
same successful manner upon four other persons discharged
as incurable from our infirmary. In his chuckling he said that
nobody had ever guessed at the remedy but a Frenchman,
who declared that the peasants of that country were well

mentioned by Shakspeare. 95

acquainted with its merits. He was perfectly astonished when
I told him it could be no other than Comfrey, and he imme-
diately waved his hat in triumph, shouting ‘‘ Comfrey for
ever!”

The second was the daughter of a most respectable book-
seller, who was confined with a slight sprain in her ancle, from
dancing. The medical gentlemen were of great eminence
who attended her; the injury became worse and worse; and,
after a confinement to her bed of, I believe, eleven months,
her life was almost despaired of, when permission was obtained
to apply, at the suggestion of a poor individual, the simple
leaf of a garden-herb, which was considered as likely to be of
service. The leaf was applied, and from that moment the
pain diminished. In a few days the leg was healed up, and
the young lady completely restored to her health. A small
specimen of the plant was carefully cultivated in a flowerpot,
and when I was applied to for its name, I recognised the
Valeriana Phu. In this manner I think it advisable to make
inquiries, if opportunities should occur, respecting the Lu-
narias, or moonworts, and the Alyssums of Dioscorides, Pliny,
Galen, and Tabermemontanus; comparing them with the cri-
ticisms of botanists, and the experience of country people.
I have no doubt that much information would be obtained
confirmative of the interesting anecdote related by your
lordship.

The Mercurialis perennis, or Cynocrambi, called Dog's
mercury, as is reported, from its virtue having been discovered
by Hermes, is the plant used in Spain for curing hydrophobia.
It is here called Bristol-weed, and, from its appearing to
contain a blue dyeing and cathartic principle, similar in all
probability to that of oleander and indigo, I suspect it to be

_ the Glastum, or woad, of our ancestors. Glas is the Welsh

. word for what is blue and transparent; it occurs seemingly in

the word Ganderglasses, or Gandergaws; our name for

3 orchis, the first part of the word Gander, being merely the

f Greek avnp, and the Latin anser, meaning male, and there-

fore applicable to the O. mascula and O. morio, the flowers

of which in pastures appear like gems, constituting a gawdy
and brilliant enamel, one of the most beautiful in nature.

The plant Horehound is likewise a remedy for hydrophobia,
and takes its name accordingly; the first syllable of the word
being the Greek wpew, euro; and Diascorides attests its effi-
cacy. ‘The true horehound is therefore the Marrubium
a, or the Alyssum of Galen.

e may likewise inquire relative to the Dog-violet, whether
the Viola canina may not possess this faculty, or the Dentaria,

a, ae oP ° ey al
aia & i

96 On the Medical Plants mentioned by Shakspeare.

ealled toothed -violets, and sometimes dog’s-tooth violets, or
the Erythronium dens canis; called also in Hampshire, where
it is abundantly wild, the dog’s or hound’s tooth violet.

The name of hound’s-tree, or hound’s or dog’s berry, given
to the Cornus, would authorize a trial of this fruit likewise
in this horrible complaint.

Whether the word Madnep indicate another cure may be
inquired, and whether the name apply to Heracleum Sphon-
dylium, Heracleum Panaces, Partinaca Opopanax, or the
Angelica Archangelica?

But, if we are to believe Pliny, we are indebted to the
oracle for the discovery that the root of Cynosbatos, or Cy-
norrhodon, Rosa canina, or dog-rose, is a remedy for hydro.
phobia. It will appear, from the following extracts, that our
medical roses were all known to Shakspeare, and celebrated
by him, although not indeed for their therapeutic efficacy.

Notwithstanding the best conserve is made from the fruit
of the Rosa arvensis, or apple-rose, yet we must suppose that
our poet, by scarlet hips, referred to the fruit of the common
briar. ‘The oaks bear mast, the briars scarlet hips.”
Timon, act iv. sc. 3.

The R. damascena is used for syrups, and the variety y
of Martyn must be the true damask-rose, so elegantly and
poetically referred to in the following passages:

« Fair ladies mask’d are roses in the bud;

Dismask’d, their damask sweet commixture shews,
Are angels veiling clouds, or roses blown.’’— Love’s L. L.a.v.s.2.

««There was a pretty redness in his lip,
A little riper and more lusty red
Than that mixed in his cheek: ’twas just the difference
Betwixt the constant red and the mingled damask.”
As You Like It, act iii. se. 5.

««J have seen roses damasked red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheek.’’—Sonnet 130.

«« Gloves as sweet as damask-roses.’’—Winter’s Tale, activ. sc. 3.

He also contrasts the red with the white rose, both of
which contain the same medical astringent property. ‘The
white rose being rubbed on alkaline paper, instantaneously
produces a very beautiful yellow colour, which may be used
as a dye.

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