‘poses. It serves to suspend heavy powders in water, gives tenacity 
ee substances made into pills, and it effects @ partial union of oils, 
__balsams, and resins, with water. = A : 
Is the product of a very thorny shrub, which grows on the island 
of Candia and some other places in the Levant. It comes in small 
: led pieces, semi-transparent, and brittle ; has neither taste nor 
: ll, and is entirely a pure gum. It is greatly superior to all-the 
gums in giving viscidity to water, its power in this respect being to. 
that of gum arabic as twenty-four to one. Its solution is not perfect- 
ly uniform unless boiled for some time. 
- Tragacanth has virtues similar to gum arabic, and is principally 
=o loyed as a di ent, to blunt acrimonies, and as a pharma-- 
> a £ > 
ceutic agent. 
Toneve. Asplenium Scolopendium. The leaves, 
<= _ The leaves of this plant are long, tongue-shaped, entire, pointed,. 
_ on radical foot-stalks, of a shining black color, and waved at the 
_ Inargin. It grows among the rocks in shady places. 
_ it has an astringent quality, and when made into an ointment, is 
in curing burns and the piles; and when taken internally — 
: d in wine, prevents the spitting of blood, and is effectual in the — 
cure of the diarrhea and dysentery. It may be administered in de- 
_ coction, in wine; or made into an ointment with linseed oil and — 
hel TSS 
pe 
This plant rises three feet in height; leaves large, oval, ribbed, — 
entire, plaited, and sessile ; flowers bisexual, and of a greenish color, © 
on long terminal spikes. It grows in moist meadows, in swamps, 
and on the sides of stony running brooks, and is one of the first 
plants we discover in the spring, throughout the northern states, and 
is equally as efficacious in medicine as those imported: flowers in 
The root only is made use of for medical purposes. They must 
_ be dug in the spring, or late in the fall, when the leaves are dead, 
and g in a mill, for use. The root has a strong, disagreeable 
- smell when fresh, which is lost by drying and an acrid taste which 
is retained. Snuffed up the nostrils in very small quantities, it ex- 
_ ites violent sneezing, with a sense of heat and a copious di: charge 
of mucus, which renders it useful in catarrhs, headachs, mania, &c. 
Taken internally in doses of a few grains, it acts as a violent emetic — 
and cathartic. Externally, mixed with lard, it is said to be an infal- 
liable cure for the itch and scald head. etapa ; 
_ Dr. Henry formed an ointment of it by mixing it with mutton 
gtavy; for use in cutaneous affections. 
