‘@ 57 ) 
Linnzus defcribes the tafte of this plant to be acrid and pungent, 
which we have not been able to difcover: neither the tubercles of 
the root, mor the leaves manifeft to the organs of tafte any quality 
likely to be of medicinal ufe, and therefore though this {pecies of 
Saxifrage has been long employed as a popular remedy in nephritic 
and gravelly diforders, yet we do not find either from its fenfible 
qualities, or from any publifhed inftances of its efficacy, that it de- 
ferves a place in the Materia Medica, 
The fuperftitious daGrine of Signatures fuggefted the ufe of the 
root, which is a good example of what Linnzus has termed radix 
granulata, The bulbs or tubercles of fuch roots anfwer an important 
purpofe in vegetation, by fupplying the plants with nourifhment and 
moifture, and thereby enabling them to refift the effeéts of that 
drought to which the dry foils they inhabit peculiarly ¢xpofe them. 
Sedum Telephium (Orpine) is alfo admitted of the Materia Medica 
in the foreign pharmacopceias ; it has not the acrid charaéters of the 
fpecies heye figured, but on the contrary is bland and mucilaginous. 
It is faid to be diuretic, and, aceording to Dr. Withering, is ufed with 
fuccefs to cure the piles, Simpervivum te€torum (common Houfe- 
leek) which is nearly allied. to the Telephium in botanical affinity, 
likewife abounds with a mucilaginous juice, {aid to be an ufeful appli- 
cation to burns, creeping ulcers, and in apthous cafes. Ca¢tus Opun- 
tia (common Indian Fig) and Portulaca oleracea (Garden Purflane) 
both of this natural order, afford a fimilar juice, which alfo has been 
applied to medical purpofes, Cow: ae AGED Site: 
Ne. gccPan Fp PRL ATR, 
