442 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



purge, may at the same time kill intestinal worms, and may even 

 produce mortal accidents in man.' Prussic acid is also found in 

 several of the Pear group, especially in the seeds of Pyrus, Malus, 

 Cotoneaster microphylla and C. Uva ursi. The root, bark, and flower of 

 the Mountain Ash or Eowan {Sorbier des oiseaux) may, we are assured,^ 

 yield as mucli of this acid as an equal weight of Cherry Laurel leaves. 

 There are some Rosacea which are dangerous or medicinal with- 

 out their active principle being prussic acid, or even the nature of that 

 principle being known. Thus, it is not known why several Burnets 

 have bitter nauseous emetic roots, while their fruit is a narcotic 

 poison ; why Bubus villosusj' so much used in America as an astrin- 

 gent, is also emetic in a large dose;^ why Gillenia trifoliatd" and 

 stipulacea^ of the United States, act in the same way as ipecacuanha ; 

 why the wood of the Quillai, whose saponaceous properties we have 

 described, irritates the mucous membrane of the nasal fossae very 

 strongly, causing violent sneezing -^ or why the Indian Chocolate- 

 roof of the United States, acts as an alterative in affections of the 

 abdominal viscera. The cause of the vermicidal action of several 

 Bosacece is thought to be better known; some of these, such as 

 Agrimonia Eupatoria L., are used to destroy round or thread worms, 

 others for tape-worm, like the celebrated Kousso of Abyssinia,' which 

 is only the flower of Br ay era abyssinica.^^ 



bark varies in properties with its age. Towards ' Perhaps because of the peculiar crystals so 



the end of the year it is bitter, astringent, and much developed in the bark, and terminating in 



tonic, while in spring it is acrid, with a smell of a point at each end. 



bitter almonds, and on distillation yields a water * Or Blood-root. This is supposed to be 



containing cyanhydric acid (Endl., Enchir., 663 ; Oeum canadense Jacq. Its leaves and root are 



— llosENTU., op.cif., 978; — GviB.,op.cit.2i)3). much used as tonics in Prince Edward's Island. 



' LiNDL., Veg. Kingd., 558. They are bitter, and useful in infantile diarrhoea 



2 liucnN., Rej)., 27, 238. (see Med. Bot. Trans. (1829), 8). 



3 Ait., Hort. Keto., ii. 210. — DC, Prodr., ii. * Or Kosno, the Amharic name of the plant, 

 563, n. 71. which is called Kossish in Gafat, Kosbo in Gonga, 



* Glandular reddish hairs, covering most of Hhabhe in the Tigre, Sika in Waab, Turo or 

 the vegetative organs, secrete a viscid liquid, with Skinei in Agau-mider, Sakikana in Falashn, 

 a resinous smell like turpentine, which renders BUi in Galla (see Pekeiba, Elem. Mat. Med., 

 the plant poisonous. Tlie bark of the root is an ed. 4, ii. p. ii. 296). 



energetic iistringent drug. Chapman considers '° MoQ. (see pp. 3 13, 341., figs. 388-392). It was 



this one of the most ;ictive and efficacious reuie- first mentioned by GODINOUS {De Abyss. Reb., 



dies in diaril.a'a, iniimtilu cholera, &c. (Higkl., lib. i. cap. 2), in 1645, according to Leuxholi-F, 



Med. Bot., ii. t. 38; — Linijl., Fl. Med., 227). ascuring the worms caused by the use of raw meat 



* McENCit, Melh., Suppl., 28G. — DC, Prodr., in Abyssinia. It was studied and described by 

 ii. 546.— BiGEL., op. cit., iii. t. 41. — I'ekeika, JJmuce in 1790 under the name of Banksia 

 Elem. Mat. Med., cd. 4, ii. p. ii. 282. — Lindl., abyssinica. The younger LiNN-EUS having 

 Fl. Med., 229. — Spiraa trifuliala Ij., Spec, 7U2. already made u genus Banksia, Lamarck named 

 It is the false Ipecacuanha of North America of the plant llagenla in 1811 (///., t. 311), and 

 GuiBOUitT {Drog. SimpL, ed. 4, iii. 89). VV^illdenow and Sphenoel admitted this last 



* NuTT., Gen. Amer., i. 307.— Bauton, Med. generic name, though it had previously been 

 Bot., 71, t. 16. — Lindl., loc cit. applied to several other genera. In 1823 Brayeu 



