42 GERANIUM MACULATUM 



has a compact texture, and a short close fracture. A transverse 

 section shows a large central mass of a reddish-flesh colour, 

 surrounded by a thin dark brown cortical portion. It has no 

 odour, but a very astringent taste without any bitterness. 



Geranium or alum-root appears to owe its activity solely to the 

 presence of tannic and gallic adds, which according to the 

 analysis of the Messrs. Tilden, of New York, are contained to the 

 amount of about 4 per cent. The so-called active principle 

 termed Geranin by the Eclectic practitioners in the United States, 

 is a kind of resinoid extract. 



Medical Properties and Uses. Geranium is rarely used beyond 

 the United States, but in that country it is extensively employed, 

 and is regarded as applicable in all cases where astringent medi- 

 cines are required. The absence of any disagreeable taste or 

 other quality is also considered to render it peculiarly service- 

 able for infants, and persons of very delicate stomach. It has 

 been employed internally in diarrhoea, chronic dysentery, cholera 

 infantum in the latter stages, and in various haemorrhages, with 

 the greatest advantage. As a local application in chronic inflam- 

 mation, ulceration, &c., benefit may be equally expected from it, 

 as, for instance, in the form of a gargle where the throat is 

 involved, and in that of injection in gonorrhoea and leucorrhoea. 



U. S. Disp., by W. and B., p. 426 ; Per. Mat. Med., vol. ii, pt. 2, 

 p. 705 ; Staples, in Journ. Phil. Coll. Pharm., Oct., 1829, p. 

 171 ; Amer. Journ. Pharm., vol. i, p. 171 ; Lee, in American 

 Journ. Mat. Med., July, 1859, p. 199; Bentley, in Pharm. 

 Journ., vol. v, 2nd ser., p. 21. 



DESCRIPTION OP PLATE. 



Drawn from a specimen in the garden of the Apothecaries' Company, 

 Chelsea. 1. Upper part of flowering stem. 2. Root- stock and root -leaf. 

 3. Section of flower. 4. Ripe fruit after dehiscence. 5. Seed. 6. Transverse 

 section of the same. (3, 5, 6 enlarged.) 



