120 



PENGHAWAR DJAMBI. 



the Wood Oil takeu. In my own experiments, I have not 

 detected any of this substance. It is true that when Wood Oil is 

 heated, a scanty, opaque white sublimate condenses in the cooler 

 part of the vessel, but this appears to arise from the conden- 

 sation of a little water among the minute diops of essential oil, 

 since it is not produced if the Wood Oil has been previously 

 agitated with some fragments of dried chloride of calcium. 

 Medical Use. With regard to its medicinal properties, there appears to be 

 no doubt from an extensive set of experiments instituted by Dr. 

 O'Shaughnessy, confirmed by trials made by other practitioners 

 in India, that Wood Oil is nearly equally efficient with Copaiba, 

 in the diseases in which that drug is indicated. 1 It may be ad- 

 ministered as an emulsion, or in pills made up with magnesia. 

 Dr. O'Shaughnessy has used the essential oil in doses of from 

 10 to 30 drops. 



From the close similarity of Wood Oil to Copaiba, a mixture 

 of the two may be anticipated ; from pure Copaiba, such a mix- 

 ture will probably be detected by a difference in its optical pro- 

 perties. 



ON PENGHA WAR DJAMBI, A NEW STYPTIC. 



isse. A SMALL package of the curious drug known by the name 



Penghawar Djambi, or by the not less barbarous designation 

 Pakoe Kidang, was lately offered at one of the public drug sales 

 in the City. 



Description. The drug consists of the lower part of the stalk or stipes of a 

 large fern, native of the island of Sumatra. The stalks as im- 

 ported are in straight pieces, about a foot in length and an inch 

 in width. They have mostly been split open lengthwise, perhaps 

 to facilitate their drying. Tljeir most striking feature, however, 

 is the abundant clothing of long, sparkling, golden-brown, 

 moniliform hairs, with which the outer part of the stipes is 

 thickly covered, and which at the first glance suggest for the 

 drug an animal rather than a vegetable origin. 



Penghawar Djambi, though new to the English drug-market, 



1 Bengal Dispensatory (1842), pp. 222224. 



