366 SALIC IN EJ<:. 



Juno Fluonia. For an account of tlie funereal use of the 



willow in China, the reader is referred to Schlegel's Uran- 



ographie Ckinoise, or De Gubernatis' Mi/th, des Plantes, article 

 8 aide. 



The Persian settlers in India have introduced the flowers 

 [bidmishk) and the distilled water {ma-eUhhilaf) of S, Caprea, 

 both of which are used by the upper classes of Mahometans 

 and Parsees, who consider them to be cephalic and cardiacal, 

 and use them as domestic remedies in almost every kind of 

 slight ailment. 



Raitghan-i-hidy an oil prepared by boiling two parts of the 

 distilled water with one of sesamum oil until the water has all 

 evaporated, is a favorite remedy for cough. 



For a long series of years the willow fell into disuse in Europe, 

 but was again brouf^ht into notice in 1763 by the Rev. Mr. 



Stone, who published a paper on the efficacy of the bark of 

 j8. alba as a remedy for agues. The broad-leaved willow bark 

 {S. Caprea) was subsequently introduced into practice by 

 Mr. James, whose observations on its efficacy were afterwards 

 confirmed by Mr. White and Mr.. G. Wilkinson {Pereim, Mat. 

 Med., ii., Pt. 1, p. 337), Willow bark was fonnerly official in the 

 London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Pharmacopoeias, and was consi- 

 dered no bad substitute for cinchona in agues. S. Caprea is 

 one of those willows w^hich yield mlicin and tannin, and is 

 remarkable for its large yellow fragrant catkins. 



Salicin, which was discovered in 1825, and first obtained m 

 a pure state in 1830, was at first much vaunted as an antiphlo- 

 gistic by Hiess and others in those cases in which salicylic acid 

 is now employed; it was also used as an antiperiodic in ague, 

 and is said to have been found efficient in preventing the 

 development of acute coiyza and influenza, and in mitigating 

 the symptoms of hay fever. It was usually administered in 



gram 



More 



infl 



upon the temperature, and the drue- irraduallv fell into 



ery of the antiphlogistic properties of salicylic 



