HORSE-CHESTNUT. 165 



with alcohol or water, changes to a dull blue if diluted with 

 water *. According to the partial analysis of M. Henry f, the 

 bark contains scarcely any resin. Its soluble contents, which are 

 chiefly extractive and mucilage, are dissolved by water and di- 

 luted alcohol. Tincture of galls does not render its infusion 

 turbid, hence it probably does not contain the peculiar sub- 

 stances discovered in Peruvian bark. M. Carzoneri thinks 

 that he has detected the febrifuge principle of the bark : it 

 possesses alkaline properties, and he has named it Escidine. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — The bark of the Horse- 

 chestnut tree has been long known, and employed as an astrin- 

 gent. It was first recommended in the cure of intermittents by 

 Zannichelli X, and its febrifuge qualities have since been asserted 

 by many others § . Hufeland \\ asserts, that the following pow- 

 der may be fairly substituted for Peruvian bark : 



FACTITIOUS POWDER OF CINCHONA. 



Take of bark of the Horse-Chestnut 



Willow 



Root of Gentian 



V of each, half an ounce ; 



Sweet Flag [-of each, two drachms. 



Avens ^ 



To be made into a fine powder. 



Van Mons ^ recommends the subsequent docoction as a 

 valuable astringent, tonic, and febrifuge. In intermittent fe- 

 vers, a cupful, with the addition of sixty or eighty drops of ether, 

 is ordered to be given every two hours. 



Take of Bark of the Horse-Chestnut, four ounces ; 



Water two pints. 



Boil, and repeat the operation a second time with the same quantity of 

 water ; strain tlie two boiling liquors, and reduce to one pint by evapora- 

 tion ; then add an ounce of white sugar. 



* Murray, App. Med. Vol. iv. p. 68. 



-f- Annales de Chimie, Ixxvii. 



J J. Jac. Zannichelli, Lettera intorno alle Facolta dell' Ippocastano, etc. 



§ By Leidenfrost and Peipers, Diss, de cort. Hipp. 1763 ; Junghans, 

 Diss, de nucis vomicae et cort. Hipp, virtute med. 1770, p 25; Coste and 

 Willemet, Essais sur les Plantes indigenes, p. 57 ; Saburet De La Varniere, 

 Journ. de Medec. torn, xlvii. p. 324 ; Turra, Delia febrifuga Facolta dell' 

 Ippoc. 1780; Buchholx, Uber Antisept. Subst. 1776. 



II Hufeland, Armen. Pharra Berlin, 1825. 



% Pharm, 8wediaur. Bnisae/s, 1817- 



