EUCALYPTUS. 161 



diuretic, and may be administered when others are admissible. It is an 

 aromatic tonic, and as such specially indicated in low states of the sys- 

 tem as we see in typhoid fever, diarrhoea and dysentery. In vesical 

 catarrh it has proven a reliable remedy in his hands, and many cases of 

 gonorrhoea, he says, he has quickly cured by the use of this remedy alone.- 

 Indeed, in all affections of the mucous membranes its beneficial action is 

 noticed. As an external application to foul ulcers he avers, it is of great 

 value. 



Limbert has successfully treated wounds by the application of the 

 fresh leaves to the parts. After a few hours all the unpleasant odor em- 

 anating therefrom is counteracted and a healthy state of healing goes on* 

 to complete cicatrization. 



Bucquoy (of Cochin Hospital, Paris) asserts that of all the drugs he 

 has made use of in pulmonary gangrene, none have given him the satis- 

 faction that Eucalyptus has. Out of the various cases treated, five were 

 complete cures, while the symptoms of all the others were favorably 

 modified. The cough modified, the sputa was less abundant, and the 

 offensive odor was entirely absent, and this after carbolic acid had failed. 

 He uses it in the form of an alcoholate, half a drachm in a mixture of 

 syrup, gum and orange-flower water. 



These anti-septic properties of Eucalyptus are due, mostly, to the oil 

 (eucalypto) contained in the various preparations made use of. It (the 

 oil) has been known to preserve blood for over five months from decom- 

 position (as long as carbolic acid will do the same), which is longer than 

 turpentine will keep it unchanged. L,imbert and Birch have both made 

 experiments to this effect, and both confirm the statement. The action 

 of the remedy upon the white blood-corpuscles is analagous to that of 

 quinine, as it restrains their amoeboid movements, and hence its useful- 

 ness in the class of troubles, congestive in their nature, where it may be 

 locally applied. 



As an item of agricultural interest it may be noted that it has been 

 asserted by the French writers to be a remedy for phylloxera; that trees 

 growing near the grape-vines protect the vines from the ravages of this 

 parasite. Experiments have also been made with the essence of the drug 

 upon the diseased vines, by Abbe Holland, in the manner of innovula- 

 tions, and with such success that he has pronounced, after a trial of two 

 years of its virtues, " an infallible remedy." He makes a broad incision 

 through the bark at the neck of the vine, and into this drops a few drops 

 of the essence, or rubs it over the cut surface with a camel's hair brush. 

 The result is, as he says, that in three or four days the parasites are de- 

 stroyed, but the vine remains uninjured. The incision may be made in 

 any part of the bark, but the desirable result is most speedily obtained 

 by making it as near the roots as possible. 



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