ELM. 283 



The inner part of the bark of the young branches is the part 

 used medicinally. This bark is of a brownish red colour and 

 inodorous ; it has a slightly bitter, astringent taste, and on 

 being chewed, proves mucilaginous. When boiled in a small 

 quantity of water, it forms a thick, dark brown coloured de- 

 coction, which gelatinizes as it cools, and when evaporated 

 leaves a brittle, semi-transparent substance, soluble in water, 

 but insoluble in alcohol and ether, to which, however, it imparts 

 a brownish colour. The brittle residue, when treated in the 

 same manner as Klaproth treated the gum-like exudation * 

 from the Ulmus nigra, afforded nearly the same results ; conse- 

 quently it must be regarded as ulmin f. 



Medicinal Pkoperties and Uses. — The root, leaves, and bark 

 of this tree were formerly used in medicine, on account of their 

 astringent and detersive qualities. In modern practice, a de- 

 coction of the inner bark has been highly recommended in some 

 cutaneous affections allied to tetter and leprosy. Dr. Lysson J 

 mentions five cases of inveterate eruptions, which were success- 

 fully treated by a decoction of elm bark, but as he added nitre 

 to it, and also frequently had recourse to purgatives, Wood- 

 ville § questions if these cures ought to be wholly ascribed to 

 the bark. Dr. Lettsom |1 attributes the cure of a severe case 

 of le2)ra ichthyosis of Sauvages, in which other remedies had 

 failed, to the use of elm. Banau ^, in particular, mentions 

 an instance of common leprosy affecting the whole body, in 

 which it was successful. Many other practitioners have com- 

 mended it in cutaneous complaints, but Willan** and Banau -f-j" 

 also recommend it in herpetic complaints generally, in flying 

 and fixed pains, old ulcers, iluor albus, cancerous, scro- 

 fulous, and nervous affections, obstinate rheumatism, scurvy, 

 scald-head, &c. Prout j J used this medicine in various skin 



* This substance has been named Ulmin from the tree which produces it. 

 According to Berzelius, it exists in the bark of many other trees, 

 f Thomson's Dispensatory, p. G56. 

 :j: Medical Transactions, vol. ii. p. 203. 

 § Med. Bot. vol. iv. p. 711. 

 |{ Medical Memoirs, p. 152. 

 •If Journ. de Paris, 1783, n. 255. 

 ** Descrip. Cut. Dis. vol. i. p. 139. 

 ft Murray, Mat. Med. t. iv. p. GOG. 

 Xt ^lodern Pract. Lond. Hosp. p. 113. 



