A Dr. Rousseau on the 
odour. The alkalies do not act upon it; chlorine neither 
changes its colour, nor its chemical nor medical properties. It 
is precipitated neither by the nitrate of silver, hydrochlorate 
of platinum, acetate of potass, nor by the oxalates of potass 
and ammonia. It is insolub!e in ether; soluble in alcohol at 
40°, equally so in alcohol at 36°, and even in warm water. 
This product, which | have named Itictve, is of a brown 
colour; rapidly absorbs moisture, which probably renders it 
non-crystallizable: heated in a platinum crucible, the ilicine 
gives carbon, and betrays the presence of an alkali, by re- 
storing the blue colour of litmus paper reddened by an acid: 
this alkali proceeds from a salt, having potass for its base. 
Results. 
2 Ibs. of dried leaves give of dry extract, 3v., gy. iv. 
Bilbs. s-\) «. oo), « GIVE OL ANCines, <1) .6 amie 
ADE. ene. is). +... Jose. by drying, I lb. ¢ive 
2 Ibs. of fresh leaves give of dry extract, Ziij. 5iv. gr. xxiv. 
Medical Properties. 
Those authors who have spoken of the holly consider it as 
possessing emollient, resolving, diuretic, and expectorant 
properties: few consider it as a febrifuge. Before it was 
employed internally, many remarked that the bruised and 
putrefied bark yielded a viscous substance called birdlime, 
and which was applied externally as a cataplasm, supposing 
it to have resolving or maturative qualities: with this idea, 
M. Cuomet employed it to alleviate the pain of gout. 
The root, according to many, has the same emollient and 
resolving properties as the bark. ‘The decoction of the 
leaves, or their powder, has been praised in catarrh, pleurisy, 
colic, and the diseases of the urinary organs. ‘The great 
Hater has recommended the juice of the leaves in icterus; 
and we shall perceive, in many of the observations which 
follow, that the alvine evacuations which were produced in 
some patients depended on its action on the liver, as Haller 
suspected when recommending it in jaundice. 
I remarked, that few physicians have regarded it as a fe- 
brifuge, which admits of a simple explanation; as DuraNnDE 
and Rett are the only persons who have sought after a new 
therapeutical remedy for fevers. ‘Those who followed them 
have only repeated what they had already stated, and were 
content to approve of a remedy whose uses still lay open to 
further investigation. 
We should then inquire why this medicine has fallen into 
disuse, as Reil, in his work, asserts that he employed the 
