HOLLY. 5 



Very little is recorded of the effects of the leaves ; Haller* gave 

 the expressed juice with success in jaundice ; and Durantf states 

 that intermittent fevers have yielded to a drachm of the powdered 

 leaves, administered before the paroxysm. It has been reserved for 

 Dr. Rousseau to point out the valuable febrifuge properties of this 

 plant.! He states that the unjust neglect which this indigenous 

 shrub has experienced had long engaged his attention, and from 

 the successful results of twenty years' experience, he is enabled to 

 propose the Holly as a febrifuge and succedaneum for cinchona bark. 

 With truly benevolent feeling he speaks of the value of this remedy 

 to the poor, who are often unable to procure quinine on account of 

 the high price of that drug. Dr. Rousseau has discovered in the leaves 

 of Holly a bitter substance, which is neutral, uncrystallizable, soluble 

 in alcohol, and undecomposable by acids and alkalies : — this he 

 considers the active medicinal principle. He has named it Ilicine § 

 This substance, as well as the preparations of the leaves, he has 

 given in various cases of intermittent fevers, with the most complete 

 success. He relates sixty-five cases, some of them of an obstinate 

 character, in four of which quinine and the other cinchonic alkalies 

 had failed ; also a case of nervous fever, complicated with daily 

 paroxysms of ague, cured by Ilicine. He considers that several of 

 these cases demonstrate not only the febrifuge action, but the se- 

 dative power of the leaves upon the spleen, liver and pancreas, 

 especially when the sensibility of those organs has been increased 

 by the use of cinchona. 



The leaves may be administered in decoction, substance, ex- 

 tract, bitter principle (Ilicine), and enemata. 



The decoction is prepared by boiling half an ounce of the fresh 



* Hist. Stirp. Helv. n. 667. 



f In Memoires de la Societe de Med. a Paris, vol. i. p. 342. 



J See the "Essay on the Use of Holly and Ilicine," by that gentleman, 

 in the Transactions of the Medico-Botanical Society of London, 1832-33, 

 for which the silver medal of the Session 1832 was awarded. 



§ The following is one of the modes by which it is obtained : " Make an 

 alcoholic extract of the leaves of Holly, which should be mixed with 

 water, and afterwards treated with subacetate of lead, sulphuric acid and 

 carbonate of lime ; alcohol should then be added, and the product when 

 dried affords Ilicine." Two pounds of dried leaves afford rather more than 

 two ounces of Ilicine. It is insoluble in ether, soluble in alcohol at 36 p , 

 and even in warm water." For further information respecting the proper- 

 ties of this substance, see the Memoir alluded to. 



