RHUS GLABRA 271 



Ibn Jazla, author of the Minhaj, states that there are 

 two kinds, China and Khorasan rhubarb, and that the 

 latter is known as Rawand-el-dawabb, and is used in 

 veterinary practice, whilst the Chinese is reserved for 

 human beings. The latter is the best kind, and, when 

 powdered, is of a saffron color; the fractured surface has 

 the grain of a cow's hump, and is friable; it is called 

 "meaty rhubarb," and should be in large pieces like a 

 horse's hoof, and not worm-eaten. In my experience 

 there are three kinds of rhubarb, Chinese, Khorasan, 

 and Indian. Mesue states that rhubarb is hot in the 

 third degree and dry in the first.' 



"Rhubarb is not an article of the Hindu Materia 

 Medica, but the modern Hindus have become ac- 

 quainted with its properties through Mahometan and 

 European physicians." (Dymock, Pharmacographia 

 Indica, v. 3, pp. 153^.) 



The botanical history and description of the rhu- 

 barbs is of great interest, but out of place in this publi- 

 cation. We venture to suggest that no greater service 

 could be offered our members, or greater credit given 

 our society, than a special volume devoted wholly to 

 the botanical relatives of Pharmacopeial drugs, by the 

 American botanical authorities, H. H. Rusby or 

 Henry Kraemer. 



RHUS GLABRA' (Sumach) 



As Rhtis glabrum, this appears in the Pharmacopeia, from 1820 

 to 1870, inclusive, but in the Secondary List only. It was official 

 in the editions of 1880 and 1890, but was dropped from the edition 

 of 1910. 



Sumach, Rhus glabra, is found in most of the temper- 

 ate parts of the United States, to which country it is 



1 Rhus Toxicodendron (Poison Ivy, Poison Oak), was recognized by all the 

 Pharmacopeias (even the Pharmacopeia of the Massachusetts Medical Society. 

 1808), until the edition of 1900, from which it was dropped. Previous to the year 1880 it 

 was known under the name Toxicodendron, but appeared in the Secondary List only. 



