C U L I C I D JE. 



209 



having a bitter and slightly acrid taste. If it is nearly 

 black, compact, and heavy, and breaks with a shining 

 resinous fracture, it should be rejected as bad. It is 

 often mixed with starch, an adulteration which it is 

 sometimes not easy to detect by its appearance. 



Elaterium consists of water, extractive, fecula, 

 gluten, woody matter, and Elaterine. The latter sub- 

 stance, which is the active principle of the drug, was 

 discovered by Dr. I. D. Monies, and is totally 

 different from the Elatin of Dr. Paris. It is a white 

 crystalline substance, of an extremely bitter taste, 

 insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol. It is easily 

 procured from the alcoholic tincture of eluterium by 

 evaporating it to the consistence of thin oil, and 

 while still warm throwing it into boiling distilled 

 water. 



Elaterium is a powerful or drastic purgative, which 

 is prescribed with good effect in cases of dropsy. It 

 was known to the ancient physicians, and was used 

 by them occasionally. When pure, it may be given 

 in doses of one sixth or half a grain, and its effects 

 should be carefully watched, as they are apt to be 

 too powerful. Elaterine acts well in the dose of one- 

 twelfth or one-sixteenth of a grain, and is much more 

 certain than elaterium itself. The elaterium imported 

 M.'J.'.L, f: "juently requires to be administered in 

 doses of two or three grains before it will act. 



Momordica bakamina, balsam apple, is a native of 

 India, and was introduced into Britain in 1568. It 

 has a fleshy ovate fruit, which, when ripe, is of a red 

 colour, and bursts irregularly so as to disperse the 

 seeds. It is famous in Syria for curing wounds. 



Bryonia is the only British genus of the order, and 

 it contains a very large number of species, almost 

 entirely exotic. 



Bryonia dioica, red-berried bryony or wild vine, is 

 frequent in thickets and hedges in England, but is 

 scarcely indigenous in Scotland. It has a very large 

 white root, and a slender climbing stem, and bears 

 whitish flowers, which are succeeded by berries of a 

 red colour. 



The plant abounds in a foetid acrid juice. The root 

 has a disagreeable taste and decidedly purgative pro- 

 perties, which are not lost by drying. When applied 

 externally to the skin, it causes redness, and if the 

 application is long continued it will induce inflam- 

 mation. It was much used in ancient times as a 

 violent purgative in cases of dropsy and insanity. 

 When dried and powdered, the root was administered 

 in doses of thirty or forty grains. In the south of 

 England it is still used as a laxative, after being in- 

 fused in gin. It is not, however, employed to any 

 extent now-a-days in medicine, in consequence of the 

 violent and even dangerous nature of its action. In 

 large doses it is an acrid poison, and produces death 

 speedily. 



Bryony root consists of resinous and gummy mat- 

 ter, starch, albumen, extractive matter, vegetable fibre, 

 water, several salts, and a peculiar principle to which 

 the name of Bryonine has been given. This substance 

 has a reddish-yellow colour and an intensely bitter 

 taste, and has been considered the active ingredient 

 of the plant. It is soluble in water and alcohol, and 

 appears to be analogous to Cathartine. 



The fecula contained in the root of the bryony, 

 when separated from the bitter principle, may be used 

 as nutriment. Cooking has a great effect on the 

 properties of the plant, rendering it wholesome and 

 denriving it of its purgative qualities. 



The root of Bryonia rostrata, beaked bryony, is 

 Drescribed in India internally in piles. It also pos- 

 sesses demulcent qualities, and has been recommended 

 in asthmatic complaints. 



The root of Bryonia epigcea, air-living bryony (so 

 called from living in the air and throwing out shoots 

 readily in that situation), was formerly considered as 

 calomba root, which it resembles in quality. 



The root of Bryonia cordifolia is reckoned cooling. 



Bryonia callosa yields small bitter seeds, which are 

 prescribed by the native practitioners of India in 

 cases of worms, and also as a veterinary medicine. 

 A fixed oil is procured from them, which is used for 

 lamps. 



It only remains for us to notice a few remaining 

 genera, in order to complete the history of this im- 

 portant family. 



The leaves of Feuillea or Nhandiroba cordifolia are 

 said to be antidotes to vegetable poisons, even to 

 such powerful poisons as strychnia. 



The fruit of Trichosanthes palmata, palmate snake 

 gourd, when powdered and mixed with warm cocoa- 

 nut oil, is used in India for healing sores which occur 

 in the ears and nostrils. 



The fruit of Benincasa cerifera, wax-bearing gourd, 

 is covered with a waxy substance, which is most 

 abundant at the time when it becomes ripe. 



Joliffia Africana or Telfairia pedata is an African 

 plant yielding a fleshy fruit, three feet long and often 

 eight inches in diameter. It is filled with seeds as 

 large as chestnuts, which are said to have the flavour 

 of almonds, and to yield abundance of oil equal to 

 the finest olive oil. 



CUL1CIDJ3. A family of dipterous insects, 

 belonging to the section Nemocera, and having for its 

 type the genus Culcx of Linnaeus, or the blood- 

 thirsty gnat. This family occupies the foremost 

 range amongst dipterous insects, on account of the 

 more complete development of the organs of the 

 mouth and antennae. Indeed, it is not surprising, 

 when we examine the structure of the gnat, that, 

 even in the time of Pliny, this insect should have 

 been selected as affording an admirable example of 

 the wonders of the creation. " Ubi tot sensus collo- 

 cavit ut in culice?" observes this father of natural 

 history ; and when we notice the beautiful organisation 

 of the proboscis, that fearful organ which causes us so 

 much pain, we immediately perceive its superiority, or 

 rather the more complete development which it exhi- 

 bits over the mouths of other diptera, except the Ta- 

 bariidae. This apparatus, although it appears to the 

 naked eye like a long, slender, simple and single organ, 

 consists, in fact, of a considerable number of fine lancet- 

 like pieces, enclosed in a fleshy gutter, forming an in- 

 strument admirably fitted for suction, and provided 

 with a poisonous liquid, which it instils into the wound 

 it makes, and which is supposed to have the effect of 

 causing the blood to flow more freely. Overlooking 

 the beautiful organisation which this insect exhibits, 

 how often is it that, in our rage, we destroy, or at 

 least attempt to destroy, the gnat, which has feasted 

 at the expense of our blood ? How seldom is it that, 

 like Reaumur, we have patiently allowed it to make 

 its attack upon us, in order to watch the curious 

 operation by which the blood is pumped up into its 

 stomach from our hand. In every quarter of the 

 globe, the gnat or mosquito, for the terms are nearly 

 synonymous, does not cease day and night to attack 

 us ; and there is scarcely a spot on which they do 



