ACONITUM 3 



"This quite unlocked for result is not without signifi- 

 cance of practical value. It goes to show that the yield 

 of gum is affected to a very great extent by conditions 

 other than the mere stripping of the bark. The ex- 

 planation of the lower yield may be that inoculation 

 takes place ordinarily by the microbes falling upon the 

 sap which exudes in slight quantity when the bark is 

 stripped off, and that when the water was rubbed over 

 the bark and then into the cut the effect was rather to 

 wash away this sap and render inoculation less complex 

 and effective." Third Report of the Wellcome Research 

 Laboratories at the Gordon Memorial College, Khartoum, 

 1908. 1 



ACONITUM (Aconite) 



Official in all editions of the U. S. P. from 1820 to 1910. 



Aconite, Aconitum Napellus, was familiar to the 

 ancients as a poisonous plant. It was used by the 

 ancient Chinese as well as by the hill tribes of India. 

 In a work published by the Welsh MSS. Society, 1861, 

 titled, The Physicians of Myddvai, 2 it is designated as 

 "a plant that every physician should grow." Aconite 

 is native to the Alps and the Pyrenees, as well as to the 

 mountains and highlands of Germany, Austria, Den- 

 mark and Sweden. The whole of Siberia, and the 

 Himalaya Mountains, to the altitude of 16,000 feet, 

 are said to harbor the plant. Waring (669) states that 

 it is found in Northern India, and Dymock (208) gives 



' It should be stated that Greig Smith (Proc. Linn. Soc. of N. S. W., 1902, Part 

 III, Sept. 24th), is the original investigator of the bacterial origin of acacia, and has published 

 several papers on the subject. These should be studied in connection with the Wellcome 

 Report. 



PHYSICIANS OF MYDDVAI. The domestic physician of Rhys Gryg, prince of South Wales 

 who died 1233, made a collection of recipes used in medicine at that date in his country. He 

 was assisted by his three sons, the collection being a valuable historical record cono 

 remedial agents and methods of that date. Of this work, two compilations have been i 

 the two appearing together, 1861 , with a translation by John Pughe (470 pp.). " 

 manuscript is in the British Museum. (See Fliickiger and Hanbury's 

 W* 761). 

 2 



