388 Analyses of Boohs. [May 



Mr. Royle has endeavoured to identify the plant termed Lj/cium 

 by Dioscorides. The hjcium of Asia Minor he considers may be 

 made from the Rhamnus infectorius, or different species of Rham- 

 nus, or the Berberis vulgaris. The hjcium of India, again, he 

 identifies wiih the produce of the Berberis aristata, occurring on 

 Choor mountain, 5000 to 8000 feet high, called in Arabic, Ambur- 

 barees, in Persian Zirishk, the Wood darkhuld and darchob, the ex- 

 tract hooziz, the hill name being chitrach, and also with the extract 

 obtained from the B li/cium growing at Mussooree, 3000 to 5000 feet 

 of elevation, called Kushmul, the extract rusot. 



This rusot can be procured in every bazar in India, and is used 

 by the native practitioners in chronic and acute inflammations of the 

 eye, both simply and combined with alum and opium. It was 

 employed by Mr. M'Dowell in the Egyptian ophthalmia, and Mr. 

 Royle has applied it with beneficial effects in cases succeeding acute 

 inflammation. The extract is rubbed to a proper consistence with a 

 little water, sometimes with opium and alum and is then applied in 

 a thick layer over the swollen eyelids. The addition of a little oil 

 renders the preparation less desiccative. 



It is mentioned in the Mukhzun-ool-udwieh, (store house for 

 medicines) under the name of loofuon, which is obviously the same 

 as look / on of the Greeks. Dioscorides describes it as being formed 

 from a shrub called Lonchitis, which is thorny, and has branches 

 three or more cubits in length, whose bark, when bruised, becomes 

 of a reddish colour and whose leaves resemble those of the olive. 

 In tl^ese respects Mr. Royle's plant agrees with that of Dioscorides. 

 Indeed we have rarely seen a more plausible deduction from etymo- 

 logy than is exhibited in the present instance. It is to be regretted, 

 however, that the rusot has not yet found its way into chemical 

 hands. 



Comparative Anatomy, 8fc. 



Mr. Yarrell describes the organs of voice in the Cygnus bucci- 

 natur, a new species of swan, figured by Dr. Richardson, from the 

 interior of the fur countries of North America. This species, which 

 is called the Trumpeter, furnishes the largest portion of the supply 

 of swan skins imported by the Hudson's Bay Company. Its beak is 

 black ; its trachea is made up of narrow bony rings and small inter- 

 vening membranous spaces as far as the first convolution within the 

 sternum ; but the returning portion of the tube, forming a second 

 convolution, is composed of broader and stronger bony rings, with 

 wider intervals. The course of the trachea within the sternum 

 differs from that of the hooper, for after descending by the neck it 

 passes backwards within the keel, and between the two plates of the 

 back bone to the depth of six inches, then curving horizontally and 

 slightly inclining upwards, returns at first by the side of and after- 

 wards over the first inserted portion near two thirds of the whole 

 distance. A second curve of this returning portion is then suddenly 

 elevated two inches above the line of the superior surface of the keel, 

 and traverses the interior of a hollow circular protuberance on the 

 dorsal surface of the sternum itself. The usual ascending curve of 



