44-2 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



puri^o. may at the same time kill intestinal worms, and may even 

 proUiice mortal accidents in man.' Prussia acid is also found in 

 several of the Pear group, especially in the seeds of Fi/ms, Mains, 

 Cotuncasttr microphyll'i and C. Uva ursi. The root, bark, and flower of 

 the Mountain Ash or Eowan {Sorbicr dcs oiseaux) may, we are assured," 

 yicld as much of this acid as an equal weight of Cherry Laurel leaves, 

 'riii-re are some Eomcea which are dangerous or medicinal with- 

 out their active principle being prussic acid, or even the nature of that 

 principle being known. Thus, it is not known why several Burnets 

 have bitter nauseous emetic roots, while their fruit is a narcotic 

 poison ; why Ruhus villosm^ so much used in America as an astrin- 

 i,'ent, is also emetic in a large dose;' why Gillenia trifoliatd' and 

 slijjulaci-a; of the United States, act in the same way as ipecacuanha ; 

 why the wood of the Quillai, whose saponaceous properties we have 

 described, irritates the mucous membrane of the nasal fossae very 

 strongly, causing violent sneezing ;' or why the Lidian Cliocolate- 

 roor of the United States, acts as an alterative in affections of the 

 abdominal viscera. The cause of the vermicidal action of several 

 Jiomcea is thought to be better known; some of these, such as 

 Afjrimoniu Eupaioria L., are used to destroy round or thread worms, 

 others for tape-worm, like the celebrated Kousso of Abyssinia/ which 

 is only the flower of Brai/era ahyssinica.^^ 



burk varies in properties with its age. Towards ' Perhaps because of the peculiar crystals so 



the end of the year it is bitter, astringent, and much developed in the bark, and terminating in 



tonic, while in spring it is acrid, with a smell of a point at each end. 



hitter almonds, and on distillation, \ields a water ''Or Blood-root. This is supposed to be 



aMitaininp cyanhydric acid (Endl., Enchir., 663 ; Gemn canadense Jacq. Its leaves and root are 



— UosENTU., op. cjV., 978; — GuiB., op. ci<. 293). much used as tonics in Prince Edward's Island. 



' LiNDi.., Teg. Kiiiffd., 558. They are bitter, and useful in infantile diarrhoea 



- lUcHN., Rep., 27, 238. (see 3Ied. Bot. Trans. (1829), 8). 



' Ait., Hort. Keto., ii. 210. — DC, Prodr., ii. '■> Or Kosw, the Amharic name of the plant, 



563, n. 71. which is called Kossish in Gafat, Kosho in Gonga, 



• (Jlnndular reddish liairs, covering most of Hhahhe iu the Tigre, Sika in Waab, T^iro or 

 tl' ve cri^ans, secrete a viscid liijuid, with Skinei in Agau-mider, Sakikana in Falasha, 

 a : -inell like turpentine, which renders Beti in Galla (see Peeeika, Mem. Mat. Med., 

 the plant poisonous. The bark of the root is an ed. 4, ii. p. ii. 296). 



energetic ustringent drug. Chapman considers '" MoQ. (see pp. 343, 344, figs. 388-392). It was 



i\\'\% one of the most active and efficacious reme- first mentioned by GODINGUS {Be Abyss. Reh., 



dii« in dinrrir.ia, infantile cholera, i!tc. (Bigkl., lib. i. cap. 2), in 1645, according to Leuthollf, 



Med. But., ii. t. 38 ; — LiNUL., Fl. Med., 227). as curing the worms caused by the use of raw meat 



• M<KNCif, Melh., Suppl.. 286. — DC, Prodr., in Abyssinia. It was studied and described by 

 \\. MCt.— \\\c,Y.\.., op. rit., iii. t. 41. — Pkuf.ika, Rettck in 1790 under the name of Banksia 

 E/nn. Mat. Med., i-d. 4, ii. p. ii. 2S2. — LiMiL., ahyssinica. The younger LiNN^US having 

 Fl. Med., 229. — Spirrfn Irifuliala L., Spec, 702. already made a genus Banksia, Lamaeck named 

 It i» the raise I|>ecticunnhu of North America of the plant Hagenia in 1811 {III., t. 311), and 

 GriBoruT (Drag. SimpL, ed. 4, iii. 89). Willdknow and Sprejigel admitted this last 



• NiTT., (ten. Amrr.,\.^i)l. — Bahton, 3/c(/. generic nauie, though it had previously been 

 Dot., 71, f. 16. — l/i.M)!,., lov. cit. applied to several other genera. In 1823 Beayeu 



