FRUCTUS RHAMNI. 157 



hornhast (p. 74); it .chiefly contains the tannic matter, besiues stellate 

 crystals of oxalate of calcium which are distributed through the whole 

 tissue of the bark. The medullary rays are of the usual form, and con- 

 tain starch granules. The corky coat is built up of a smaller number 

 of vaulted cells. 



Chemical Composition ^ — The bitter principle of the bark has 

 been ascertained by Broughton^ to be a nearly colourless resinous 

 substance, sparingly soluble in water but more so in alcohol, ether, or 

 henzol. It does not appear to unite with acids or bases, and is less 

 soluble in water containing them than in pure water. It has a very 

 bitter taste, and refuses to crystallize either from benzol or ether. It 

 contains no nitrogen. To this we may add that the bark is rich in 

 tannic acid. 



Uses — Rohun bark is administered in India as an astringent tonic 

 and antiperiodic, and is reported useful in intermittent fevers and 

 general debility, as well as in the advanced stages of dysentery and in 

 diarrhoea. 



EHAMNACE^. 



FRUCTUS RHAMNI. 



Buccw Rhamni, Baccce Sjnnce cervincu ; BiicJdhorn Berries ; F. Bales 



de Neprun ; G. Kreuzdornheeren. 



Botanical Origin— Mammts ca^/iavficaL., a robust dioecious shrub 

 with spreading branches, the smaller of which often terminate in a stout 

 thorn. It is indigenous to Northern Africa, the greater part of Europe, 

 and stretches eastward to the Caucasus and into Siberia. We have 

 seen stems 50 years old, having a diameter of 8 inches, sent from the 

 government of Cherson, Southern Kussia. In England the buckthorn 

 though generally distributed is abundant only in certain districts ; in 

 Scotland it occurs wild in but a single locality. Yet in Norway, 

 Sweden, and Finland it grows much further north. 



The fruit which ripens in the autumn is collected for use chiefly in 

 the counties of Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and also 

 from Wiltshire. The collectors usually prefer to supply the juice as 

 expressed by themselves. 

 . History— The Buckthorn was well known to the Anglo-Saxons, and 



Hartsthorn or Waythorn in their medical 



• ViofAT-Q fliii 1Vr/%vi>-.Qn r-nnnnost The Wclsh 



M, 



nqucst 



of 



juice of the fruit of buckthorn boiled with honey as an aperient drink. 



As Spina Cervina the shrub is referred to by Piero de' Cresccnzi of 

 ^ologna^ about A.D. 1305. 



The medicinal use of the berries was familiar to all the writers on 



J The analysis alluded to in the PJiarm. ^ Beddome, Flora Syhmtica, Madras, part 



(sJ,f- (P- ^4) concerns Khaya i. {18G9)S,— also information conununicated 



Lp^""") «««e<7aZ«is/,s, and not the present direct. 



CT\' ^ ^y Wend Dr. Overbeck has in- » Tmtlato daW Agncoltura, Mdano, 1S05. 



"'"n^tline.-_F. A. F. 10. iii. c. 5-]. 



