I20 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



in the arts and sciences (the term including medicine), and these I 

 shall, for convenience of description, divide into two classes, native 

 and foreign, dismissing the latter with but a brief mention of their 

 uses. 



Of the foreign species there are six. 



Rhus Cotinus, sometimes cultivated in our gardens for orna- 

 ment, under the names " smoke-plant," " purple fringe-tree,'' and,, 

 from the curious appearance of its seed-vessels, which look like a 

 powdered wig, "periwig-tree," is known in commerce as Venice 

 sumach. It is a small tree with purplish-green flowers, supported 

 on hairy peduncles, and is a native of Siberia, Austria and Northern 

 Italy. It is not used in pharmacy, but yields one variety of a wood 

 known in trade diS fustic, which has been largely employed for pro- 

 ducing a yellow dye. A noticeable pecularity about this species of 

 Rhus is that its leaves are simple, like those of the elm and maple, 

 not compound like those of the horse-chestnut and ash, as is the 

 case with the rest of the genus. 



Rhus Coriaria. — Of this both the leaves and the berries have 

 been used as astringents and tonics, and the ground twigs as a dye- 

 stuff. It is a native of the Ukraine, in Russia, and has been re- 

 garded by the inhabitants, when combined with a decoction of 

 Genista Tinctoria leaves, as a preventive of hydrophobia. It is em- 

 ployed both internally and locally, and the peasantry have great faith 

 it its curative powers, but extended trials in other parts of Europe 

 have shown it to be useless in this much dreaded affection. 



Rhus Succedanea is indigenous in Japan. From its berries is 

 expressed a wax sometimes used in pharmacy known as Japan wax. 

 It is of medium quality, ranking between beeswax and the ordinary 

 vegetable tallows. 



Rhus Vernicifera, varnish or Japan sumach, inhabits India and 

 Japan, where it is highly prized for its yielding, from incisions made 

 in the stem, a gum from which is made one of the best of varnishes. 



Rhus Metopium is found in the West Indies, chiefly Jamaica, 

 and is said to be one of the sources of " hog-gum," extensively used 

 by book-binders in the process of marbling paper. Ttiis peculiar, 

 and certainly not euphonious, name is derived from the fact that 

 hogs, when wounded, are reputed to rub themselves against this tree 

 so as to cover the wound with its juice and form a protection against 

 the irritation of insects. 



