54* 
a 
large berry, which is without juice, and of a membranous texture : 
the feed is round, but fomewhat comprefTed. 
This tree, of which there is one variety with fmaller leaves, and 
_nother with fmooth leaves, grows plentifully in Worceftermire and 
Middiefex, but is faid not to be found to the north of Stamford. 
The inner tough bark, which is directed for ufe by the Pharmaco- 
poeias, has no remarkable fmell, but has a bkteriih tafte, and abounds 
with a flimy juice, which has been recommended in nephritic cafes, 
and externally as a ufeful application to burns. The external bark 
is brittle, contains but little mucilage, and is wholly deftitute of both 
fmell and tafte. The internal bark of the branches is more bitter 
than that of the trunk, and therefore probably more efficacious. 
The complaints for which it is chiefly recommended, are thofe of 
the cutaneous kind allied to herpes and lepra. Dr. Lyfons 8 mentions 
live cafes of inveterate eruptions, both dry and humid, or thofe 
forming incruflations, which were fuccefsfully treated by a decoction 
of this bark, prepared from four ounces of it taken freln, and boiled 
in two quarts of water to one ; of this the patients were ufually 
directed to drink half a pint twice a day. But as he added nitre to 
the decoction, and alfo frequently had recourfe to purgatives, it may 
be doubted if thefe cures ought to be wholly afcribed to the Elm bark. 
Dr. Lettfom b found this bark moil effectual in what he fuppofes to 
be the lepra ichthyofis of Sauvages, in which it fucceeded after all 
the medicines ufually employed in fuch cafes had failed. A remark 
able inftance of its efficacy alfo in lepra vulgaris, affecting the whole 
body, is related by Banau ; c who propofes the ufe of Elm bark in 
various other difeafes, as fluor albus, rheumatifm, old ulcers, cancerous 
and fcrophulous affections, tinea capitis, fcurvy, &c. In very obftinate 
cafes it is neceffary to perfevere in the ufe of the decoction for fome 
months. 
* See Med. Tranfaflions^ vol. u. p. 203. 
v See Medical Memoirsy p.. 152. * See Journ. de Paris r 1783. ». 255. 
SALIX FRAGILIS 
