TREES IN MEDICINE 



649 



THE TREE PROM WHICH QUININE IS OBTAINED 

 The cinchona tree in Ceylon, cultivated in rows of trees lining avenues. Note the white longitudinal marks on the trees where the workmen have removed 



the bark. This is in marked contrast to the destructive methods formerly employed. 



Europe, Algeria, India, Egypt, Natal and lower California. 

 In the latter place it was extensively planted along the 

 line of the Central Pacific Railroad. The large dark- 

 green leaves contain a pungent volatile oil, with a charac- 

 teristic odor, which is noticed wherever the trees grow. 

 For a long time . these trees were planted in malarious 

 neighborhoods, in the belief that their aroma prevented 

 the prevalence of malaria, but any such result as was 

 obtained was probably due to the improved drain- 

 age in marshy localities, brought about through their 

 rapid growth. 



Oil of Eucalyptus, distilled from the leaves, is an anti- 

 septic and carminative. It is much used as an ingredient 

 of antiseptic oil sprays in catarrhal diseases of the nose 

 and throat, and is also used in tooth pastes, mouth washes, 

 etc., when a mild aromatic antiseptic is desired. 



Before the throat specialist uses the soothing oil appli- 

 cation, he may employ a more stimulating one containing 

 the oil of the pumilio pine. This has practically the same 

 field of uses as eucalyptol. Various conifers, the Pinus 

 pinaster in France, the Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris), 

 the swamp pine (Pinus australis), the loblolly (Pinus 

 tceda), the long-leaved pine, southern yellow pine, 

 Georgia pine (Pinus palustris), are sources of oil of tur- 

 pentine and resin. 



Oil of turpentine has some vogue as a counter-irritant 

 in various liniments, and externally and locally in abdom- 

 inal distention in typhoid fever and after abdominal opera- 

 tions. Resin enters into the composition of resin cerate 

 and is the basis for some plasters. A derivative of tur- 

 pentine is terpin hydrate, a drug of great popularity and 

 considerable value in coughs and colds. 



The beech (Fagus sylvatica, Fagus Americana, etc.), 

 which is found in the temperate zone in Europe, 

 America and Asia, is valuable in medicine for the creo- 

 sote distilled from its tar. Creosote, creosote carbonate 

 and guaiacol are medicines used to supplement the 

 hygienic measures which have done so much to reduce the 

 death rate in sufferers from pulmonary tuberculosis. 



One of the most ancient medicines is nut-gall, a spher- 

 ical body which is produced on certain species of oak by 

 the irritation of insects in laying their eggs in the leaves 

 of the trees. Pliny, Theophrastus and Dioscorides wrote 

 of the medicinal uses of nut-galls. Hippocrates, as well 

 as Pliny, recommended them for ulcerated gums, sore 

 mouth and other conditions. The Somali women of 

 Africa make a tatoo pigment from nut-galls. They have 

 long been used to make ink, and are the principal source 

 of medicinal tannic acid. When nut-galls or tannic acid 

 are employed to-day they are used for the same astringent 



