An infusion of White Ash bark has been much used in cases where an astrin- 
gent tonic was deemed necessary ; it also proves cathartic, and has been found 
useful in constipation, especially of dropsical subjects. It has received much 
praise in mastitis, and enlargement of the spleen, as well as in some forms of 
eczema, and in gouty affections. There is a belief extant in the South that the 
seeds prevent accumulation of fat. 
Dr. Porcher quotes some unmentioned author as follows: The leaves of this 
plant “are said to be so highly offensive to the rattlesnake, that that formidable 
reptile is never found on land where it grows; and it is the practice of hunters 
and others, having occasion to traverse the woods in the summer months, to stuff 
their boots or shoes with White Ash leaves, as a preventive of the bite of the rattle- 
snake.” My father relates that, among the settlers of Orange Co., N. Y., it was 
always asserted that the Aborigines used to defend themselves from this snake by 
carrying White Ash leaves about their persons. How much dependence might be 
placed in this prophylactic, it is hard to tell. 
PART USED AND PREPARATION.—The fresh bark of the young twigs, 
as well as that of the root, is treated in the same manner as that of the previous 
species.* 
The tincture has a clear, beautiful, reddish-orange color by transmitted light; 
an odor resembling that of arnica tincture ; an astringent, then very bitter, taste ; 
and an acid reaction. 
CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS.—There is, as yet, considerable doubt concern- 
ing the principles constituting this bark, yet the experiments of H. M. Edwards,+ 
J. M. Bradford,t Jos. C. Roberts,§ and especially Edward Kremers,|| point to, at 
least, a great similarity between this species and Fyraxinus excelsior and nigra, 
which, in part, yield the following: 
fraxin, C,,H,,0,.—This glucoside is found also in the bark of .£sculus. 
Fraxin forms in tufts of white, lustrous, acicular forms, slightly bitter and acrid, 
losing water at 110° (230° F.), fusing at 320° (608° F.) and decomposing. It is 
sparingly soluble in cold water and alcohol, the aqueous solution giving a beau- 
tiful blue fluorescence. Dilute acids resolve the body as follows: 
Fraxin. Sugar. Fraxetin.{ 
Sit tela, a (HO), = (CTO), es Se 3 18 APs 
* Page 136-2. 2 Ibid., 1885. ee 
Ft Am. Four. Phar., 1882, pp. 99, 283. | Contrib. Pharm. Univ. Wis., No. 2, 1866, pero. 
« ¥ Mbid., p. 282. oe 
{| A crystalline body, as yet uninvestigated, having a slightly acerb taste. 
** The Fraxinin of Keller. 
