96 ON THE MEDICINAL AND TOXICOLOGICAL 



The best species for making amadou, and widely distributed 

 over the globe. Tliunberg appears to have met with it in Japan. 

 Crypt. Eng. v. ii. p. 144. Mr. Wetherfield (Lond. Med. Gazette, 

 Nov. 1841) recommends it as an clastic medium for applying 

 support and pressure, and as a defense to tender and inflamed 

 parts. Pereira, M. Med. & Therap. ii. 46. It does not lose its 

 elasticitv, like lint. 



In the preparation of Amadou, the plant is stripped of its 

 covering, and is beaten with a mallet to render it soft and supple, 

 and then allowed to remain in water in which a little nitrate of 

 potash has been dissolved. That intended for the use of surgeons 

 is prepared in the same way, with the exception that it is not 

 impregnated with the nitrous particles. It is not alone to its 

 astringent power that it staunches wounds, but also to its capacity 

 of absorption, its spongy nature, and the mechanical pressm-e it 

 allows us to exercise. Koques, Champ. Comest. 118. 



Polyporus ignarius, Linn. 



Boletus " " Suec; U. S. Disp. J- Hard Amadou 



" U7igulatus, Pratt. 



Polyporus. On willow, cherry, and plum trees. P. ignarius of 

 Fries. Grows in St. John's, South Carolina. (H. W. E.), also in 

 Pennsylvania. 



Tlie TJ. S. Disp. calls this the " Agaric of the oak ;" but we 

 find the s^nionyms above, which determine it to be a Polyporus. 

 The best is that which grows on the oak, and the season for col- 

 lecting it is August and September. It has neither taste nor 

 smell. Its constituents, according to Bouillon-Lagrange, are ex- 

 tractive resin in very small proportion, azotized matter, also in 

 small quantity, chloride of potassium, and sulphate of lime ; and 

 in its ashes are found iron and phospliate of lime and magnesia. 

 It is prepared for use by removing the exterior rind or bark, 

 cutting the inner part into tliin slices, and beating these with a 

 hammer until they become soft, pliable, and easily torn by the 

 fingers. In this state it was formerly much used by surgeons in 

 arresting haemorrhage, being ajiplied immediately, with pressure, 

 to the bleeding vessel. It was at one time thought to clieck the 

 hgemorrhage by a peculiar property ; but it is now believed to 

 act mechanically, like any other soft, porous substance, by ab- 

 sorbing the blood, and causing it to coagulate, a.nd is not relied 



