Uses and Commercial Products of the Citriis. 149 



I came to from the series of experiments I made were 

 the following : (a) For simple intermittent fever, with- 

 out any other complications, the decoction of lemon 

 and of the khatta orange is almost as good a febrifuge 

 as quinine, and acts with rapidity, even in tertian and 

 quartan fever, (ti) In cases of weakness and loss of 

 appetite after fever the effect is even more quickly de- 

 veloped. It shows itself after the second dose, im- 

 proving the appetite and digestion, and diffusing vigour 

 through the nervous and muscular systems. I tried 

 three kinds of sour citrus in such cases, and they ap- 

 peared equally good, (c) Incases of recently enlarged 

 spleen, even when of three or four months' standing, 

 these decoctions (excepting the fluoride of ammonium, 

 which is equally good) are the best splenifuges I am 

 acquainted with, (d) When the spleen is very large 

 and of years' standing, it takes a prolonged treatment 

 to reduce and soften it. In such cases, probably neither 

 the decoction of citrus nor any other remedy known will 

 make the spleen entirely disappear, that is, reduce it to 

 its normal size. To test the value of these decoctions 

 in very large and old spleens, such as we often see in 

 natives of India, it would require that the patient 

 should voluntarily submit to the treatment for several 

 months. 



I believe all the sour citrus would be valuable in the 

 above diseases ; but I had not the opportunity of trying 

 them all. The most numerous trials were with the 

 decoction of lemon ; then came a less numerous series 

 with the decoction of khatta orange. I made some 

 experiments also with the Seville orange and the 

 ordinary lime. They were all valuable, but the most 

 pleasant to take is, I think, the decoction of lemon. 



It would appear, therefore, that in the genus citrus 

 we have a remedial agent of much potency for inter- 



