88 THE USES OF PLANTS. 



Spain, Russia, Germany, France, and Turkey, con- 

 tains in its root much sugar, and a substance known 

 as Glycyrrhizin, C 24 H 36 O 9 , It is used as a demulcent 

 in cough-lozenges, as a sweetmeat, and in the pre- 

 paration of tobacco. 



Arachis hypogcea, L., already alluded to (p. 39, 

 suprcc], was first imported to Marseilles from Goree, 

 as an oil-seed, about 1840, and is largely used as a sub- 

 stitute for olive-oil. 



Abrus precatorius, L., the root of which is an inferior 

 substitute for liquorice, has been found to contain in 

 its seeds, the well-known Crab's-eyes or Jequirity- 

 seeds, an alkaloid JEQUIRITINE, stated to be anta- 

 gonistic to Atropine.* They have recently been used 

 in ophthalmia, lupus, etc. 



Erythrina corallodendriim, L., of Brazil, and other 

 tropical countries, yields a bark said to be hyp- 

 notic.f 



Mucuna pruriens, DC., COWHAGE, a tropical 

 twining plant, has the pods densely covered with 

 stiff brown hairs, which are a powerful mechanical 

 irritant, and are administered, in honey or syrup, as a 

 vermifuge. 



Physostigma venenosum, Balf., the ORDEAL BEAN 

 of Old Calabar, first made known in England by Dr. 

 W. F. Daniell, about 1840, and described by Balfour 

 in 1861, was found, in 1863, to contain an alkaloid, 

 Physostigmine, having the composition C 30 H 21 N 3 O 4 , 

 directly antagonistic to atropine, and is now much 



* Heckeland Schlagdenhauffen, 'Der Fortschritt' (Geneva), 

 1887, Nos. 2, 3, 4 ; Bentley and Trimen, ii, pi. 77 ; Christy, ' New 

 Commercial Plants/ No. 10, p. 107. 



f Bentley and Trimen, p. 102 ; ' Nouv. Remedes,' 1886, p. 418. 



