RHEUM PALMATUM. ORD. XL. Oleraceee. - 667 
“ Some degree of stipticity is always evident in this medicine, 
*« and as this quality acts when that of the purgative has ceased, 
“so in cases of diarrhoea, when any evacuation is proper, rhubarb 
“ has been considered as the most proper means to be employed. 
“ I must however remark here, that in many cases of diarrhoea, 
‘“ no further evacuation than what is occasioned by the disease is 
“* necessary or proper.—The use of rhubarb in substance for keep- 
“ ing the belly regular, for which it is frequently employed, is by 
““ no means proper, as the astringent quality is ready to undo 
‘“‘ what the purgative had done; but I have found that the pur- 
“* pose mentioned may be obtained by it, 1f the rhubarb is chewed 
“ in the mouth, and no more is swallowed than what the saliva 
* has dissolved. And I must remark in this way employed it is 
“* very useful to dyseptic persons. Analagous to this, is the use 
‘sof rhubarb in a solution, in which it appears to me, that the 
& astringent quality 18 not-so—targely extractedas_to_operate so 
“« powerfully as when the rhubarb was employed in substance.”* 
The officinal preparations of this drug are, a watery and a vinous 
infusion, a simple and a compound tincture. It is also an ingre- 
dient in different compositions, as the Elixir ex aloe et rheo, 
pilulz stomachice, and some others. 
® We have transcribed this account from Dr, Cullen, who has paid more than 
usual attention to this article. See Mat, Med. vol. 2. p. 529. 
