162-2 
inner bark (which they call A/efoos) for food in early spring, considering it also as 
a gentle laxative and remedy for coughs. Mr. Haydon says he has eaten pounds 
of it without ill effects, It is very tender and sweet, and has a pleasant flavor.* 
The leaves and young shoots of Poplar are said to be gathered in Sweden and 
kept for sheep fodder in winter—a practice as old as the time of the Romans. 
In Kamtchatka the inner bark is used for making into bread in times of scarcity. 
The previous uses of Poplar bark in medicine are all embodied in the fol- 
lowing paragraph from Dr. C. A. Lee’s article on “Indigenous Tonics:"+ “The 
therapeutical properties of the Poplar are supposed to be nearly, if not quite, 
identical with those of the willow. As an anti-periodic, it has been used success- 
fully in the treatment of intermittents, and also as an ordinary tonic, where such 
remedies are indicated. We have good reason for believing that its tonic prop- 
erties are considerably superior to those of salix ; especially its anti-periodic power, 
and that there are few indigenous tonics superior to it in a certain class of cases, 
especially intermittents. As a stomachic tonic, the tincture has been extensively 
used in domestic practice, and with satisfactory effects; also, as a vermifuge. It is 
thought by many to possess decided alterative properties, and those who have 
watched its effects closely, consider it diuretic, diaphoretic and a general depurant. 
It has been strongly recommended in jaundice, and in suppression and retention 
of urine.” 
PART USED AND PREPARATION.—The fresh inner bark, gathered as the 
leaves are falling, is treated as in the preceding drug. The resulting tincture is 
opaque in layers of an inch or more. In thin layers it is of a beautiful, deep, 
brownish-crimson color by transmitted light ; its odor is rich and woody ; its taste 
extremely bitter and astringent, the sensation lasting a long time without losing 
its intensity ; and its reaction acid. 
CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS.— Populin, C,,H,,O,(H,O). This aromatic glu- 
coside was determined by Braconnot in 1830.t It exists in company with salicin 
in the bark and especially the leaves, from which it may be separated by precipi- 
tating it with the carbonate of potassium from the aqueous solution. Populin 
crystallizes in very light, white, satiny, voluminous needles, having a bitterish- 
sweet licorice-like taste. It loses all its water of crystallization at 100° (212° F,); 
fuses at 180° (356° F.), and decomposes at higher temperatures, yielding benzoic 
acid. The crystals are only slightly soluble in water, more so in alcohol, and 
readily in dilute mineral, and acetic acids. Upon boiling with baryta water it 
breaks down into salicin and benzoic acid, and in dilute sulphuric acid into ben- 
ZOIC acid, glucose, and saliretin, This body is very similar in its properties and 
_ feactions to salicin, from which it seems to differ only in being in intimate com- 
_ bination with benzoic acid. 
Salicin. Benzoic Acid. Populin. 
C,;H,,0, + C,H,O, = C,,H,,0,(H,O). 
2. * Holmes, in Am. Four. P har., 1884, p. 619. + The Four. of Mat. Med., Vol. Il, N.S.» 1860, p. 364 
Ann, de Chim. ef de Phys., Vol. XLIV, 296. oe 
