893 



leaves a scarcely perceptible sense of acrimony behind on the tongue 

 and fauces when swallowed ; but on being rubbed in a fresh state 

 upon any sensible part of the surface, as the back of the hand, they 

 raise, in less than a quarter of an hour, a faint cuticular eruption, at- 

 tended with a slight itching and pricking, that soon subsides, leaving 

 the part as before. Hence an embrocation prepared by steeping 

 " murrain berries," as they are here called, in gin or brandy, is a so- 

 vereign remedy with the peasantry of the island for chilblains, and I 

 believe a most efficacious one ; the ripe berries alone, without the 

 spirit, will answer nearly as well, but the latter is employed chiefly to 

 preserve them in for use during the winter. Mr. Borrer lately told 

 me that when a boy he became aware of the rubefacient property of 

 black bryony berries, but had not heard of their application for the 

 infantine complaint above mentioned. 



The geographical distribution of Tamus communis in this country 

 and on the continent has something worthy of remark. From the 

 contiguous parts of Asia it advances through Europe in a line gra- 

 dually ascending from south-east to north-west, appearing in the 

 Crimea, and keeping nearly on the parallel of 45° — 46°, through 

 Transylvania and the southernmost provinces of Austria into Switzer- 

 land, where it rises northward, following the course of the Rhine into 

 Germany as far as Carlsruhe and Strasburg, thence spreading over 

 the whole of France, it reaches Belgium, where, however, it is rare 

 and local ; then crossing the Channel it disperses itself throughout 

 England nearly to its northernmost extremity, advancing to 55^-° of la- 

 titude, many degrees beyond its polar limits on the continent, and 

 abounding over all the southern and midland counties in equal pro- 

 portion on the eastern and western sides of the island. Yet with this 

 marked tendency to a north-west progression, and with as much of 

 the Atlantic as the Germanic distribution, it is not a little singular 

 that the Black Bryony should never have been found passing over into 

 either Scotland or Ireland, although these countries are both within 

 its limitrophe parallels in England. With such strongly-marked 

 western distribution, one might in theory have confidently predicated 

 its occurrence in nearly every part of the sister island, and have rea- 

 sonably looked for it in the Scottish counties of Dumfries, Kirkcud- 

 bright and Wigtown, where it may yet possibly be discovered, since 

 these counties all lie due west of its natural localities in Durham and 

 Northumberland. As Tamus communis belongs to a decidedly south- 

 ern and indeed mostly tropical natural order, we may plausibly ac- 



