37 



Medical 



Its 



way, is rather historical than practical or scientific. No attempt 

 is made to fix upon the real value of the plants in medicine, the 

 names of the species and varieties — to the number of 1300 — be- 

 ing given in botanical sequence, and having appended a list of 

 the properties which have at one time or another been credited 

 to them. As a result we have an excellent record of the popu- 

 lar estimate, past and present, of our North American plants, but 

 little that could guide any one, except to certain failure, in their 

 use. Thus we find ascribed to Hepatica astringent, hepatic, 

 pectoral, demulcent, deobstruent and tonic properties ; and yet 

 Its reputation in hepatic disorders is antiquated, having arisen 

 solely from the fancied resemblance of its appearance to that of 

 the liver, and it is now considered by all scientific authorities as 

 being nearly inert. To nine genera in Caryophyllaceae are as- 

 cribed important actions while in reality that family is the type of 

 inertness. We miss from the list of consulted works given in the 

 preface, the name of that one that would have been of most 

 value to our author, the Medical Botany of North America, by 

 Dr. Laurence Johnson. That work, which we have, however, 

 always held to be to.o conservative, represents more nearly the 

 modern estimate of our vegetable drugs, and challenges a ma- 

 jority of the statements as to medicinal activity made in the 

 pages of the book before us. H. H. R. 



Uromyces Trifolii. Lucien W. Underwood. (Bot. Gazette, xiii.. 



301, 302.) 



Proceedings of the Club 



The regular monthly meeting was held Tuesday evening, 



December 11, 1888, the President in the chair and 20 persons 

 present. 



Mr. Sterns, Chairman of the Committee appointed at the last 

 meeting to consider the matter of the proposed Botanic Garden, 

 presented a report, which was accepted, and the Committee was 

 enlarged to eight members. 



The amendment to the Constitution proposed at the Novem- 

 ber meeting, increasing the annual dues from two dollars to four 

 dollars and including all the publications of the Club, was unani- 



