Egypt. I have myself occasionally prescribed it, and the 
native mode of application makes it peculiarly eligible i in 
cases succeeding acute inflammation, when the eye remains 
much swollen. The extract is by native practitioners in 
such cases rubbed into a proper consistence with a little 
water, sometimes with the addition of opium and alum, 
and applied in a thick layer over the swollen eyelids; the 
addition of a little oil I have found preferable, as prevent- 
ing the too rapid desiccation. Patients generally express 
themselves as experiencing considerable relief from the 
application.” ‘T’o this may be added that it is a recog- 
nized drug of the Official Pharmacopoeia of India, and is 
used by natives in the treatment of fevers of all kinds, 
diarrhcea, dyspepsia, and general debility. 
A most interesting account of the history of the Indian 
Lycium is contained in the Pharmacographia of Flickiger 
and Hanbury, where it is stated that it is mentioned by 
the author of the Periplus, who lived about the first century, 
as an export from the Indies, and that in the second century 
a duty was levied on it at the Roman custom house of 
Alexandria; also that it was preserved in singular little 
jars which are now to be found in collections of Greek 
_ antiquities. 
The other species of Indian Berberis employed for this 
purpose are B. aristata, asiatica, and nepalensis, and the 
drug is an extract of the wood of the stem and root, called 
in Hindoo medicine dar-huld. 
Berberis Lycium has a wide range in the Himalaya, 
from Kumaon westward to Kashmir, at elevations of 3000 
to 9000 feet, and has been also found beyond the Indus 
in the province of Hazara. The fruit, which is ofa beautiful 
purple colour and covered witha delicate bloom, i is eatable, 
and as I have been informed is exported in a dried state. 
In habit the species resembles B. vulgaris, also a Western 
Himalayan plant, but the leaves are coriaceous, the berries 
terete, of a very different colour, and the style is quite 
distinct. The specimen figured is from a plant growing 
in the arboretum of the Royal Gardens, which flowers in 
_ June and fruits in September.—J. D. H. 
Fig. 1, Flower; 2, petal and stamen; 3, anther deuiaced: 4, ovary 5 5 ed 
—all enlarged. 
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