134 . QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



of the holly tree, (bird lime,) made into a plastic state and spread 

 on cloth. Take three pounds of yellow beeswax and one pound of 

 bird-lime ; melt the wax over a slow fire ; add the bird-lime by de- 

 grees, so as not to have it boil over ; keep the vessel after this on 

 the fire forty-five minutes, so that the bird-lime and wax are fullji 

 incorporated ; spread this mixture on cloth and cut it into propei 

 size for plasters. In cases of neuralgia, put the plaster over the 

 part where the pain is. The plaster will retain its virtues till 

 every part of it is worn from the cloth, and it does not materially 

 interrupt the action of the skin. A repetition of it has equa' 

 effect. Also the carbonized ashes of the bark of the holly, mixec 

 with its own weight of calcined alum, rubbed on the gums, when 

 neuralgia proceeds from a tooth, will give relief. This is foi 

 neuralgia in all its forms, and the relief is almost simultaneou; 

 with the application. He has cured three cases in this way ; h( 

 however alludes only to secondary effects, leaving the primarj 

 cause of neuralgia to be otherwise disposed of. But he thinks ever 

 the primary disease (when not the result of organic derangement 

 can be cured by this bark, when made into a salt with sulphuri( 

 acid, and given internally. Lieut. Hardy thinks the Druids of ok 

 knew these virtues in mistletoe and holly ; and hence the grea 

 reverence they made the people pay to them ; and got up thi 

 superstitious notion that a sprig of holly or mistletoe would drivi 

 away a demon : and thus the practice of decorating houses a 

 Christmas and New-Year's therewith. 



.Dr. Barrett said that he did not know what was meant by tha 

 tree — the polecat. He was sorry the Lieut, did not send a speci 

 men of it — a flower, a leaf or a piece of the bark. With regan 

 to the mistletoe, the Lieut, could not have read Southey's " Bool 

 of the Church ;" where Southey has shown up the way in whicl 

 the Druids and priests of old humbugged' the people by means o 

 a very fine plant, thus getting a large share of their worldb 

 goods. As for neuralgia, it was best relieved by taking off ih. 

 surface with a blister, and then adding morphine. 



President Dewey said there was no necessity for the Lieut, send 

 ing over a specimen of the polecat tree ; it would be best known b 

 its smell, (laughter,) wherever found, without any flower, bark, o 

 even leaf : like certain animals, a knowledge of its whereabout ^i 

 was speedily carried through the air to speak for itself. | 



Mr. J. D. Whelpley said that diseased gums were not difficult 

 of cure — any powerful styptic would do this ; a solution of nitratt) 

 of silver, for instance ; or any acrid vegetable, either green, or al 

 an extract. No external remedy will cure neuralgia — not everi 

 division of the nerve. It is supposed to be caused by pressuni 

 on the nerve where it passes out at the base of the skull. Tlnl 

 mistletoe is useful only as a mere alterative, and has no virtue a: 

 an external application. 



