Medical Botany, fyc. 45 T 



" At this season it will be advisable to examine the pink plants frequently, 

 to see that they are not eaten or damaged by the snails or slugs ; the cater- 

 pillars also, from Noctua variabilis and N. gamma and. other moths, fre- 

 quently do much mischief to pinks and other perennial herbaceous plants 

 at this season, when the weather is mild, coming out of their hiding places 

 from the ground at night, and eating away all the young leaves, which 

 causes the plants to bloom weakly, as well as disfigures them." 



Medical Botany, Sfc. By John Stephenson, M.D., and James Morss 

 Churchill, Esq., Surgeon. In Monthly Numbers. 5s. 6d. 

 No. XIII. for January, contains 

 49 to 52. — jTnula Helenium, Helenium or Great-flowered Elecampane. An 

 indigenous perennial, with the root somewhat bitter and aromatic. A new 

 vegetable product has lately been procured from it called Inulin, but which 

 has not yet been applied to any useful purpose. Elecampane is " an use- 

 less appendage to the materia medica, and never used unless by cow- 

 doctors, who are ignorant of its properties, or by dishonest druggists, who 

 add a small quantity of tartar emetic to it, and sell the mixture for pow- 

 dered ipecacuanha." — .Kicinus (ricinus, a tick; seeds) communis, Common 

 Ricinus, Palma Christi, or Castor Oil Plant. " A tall annual, found native in 

 almost every part of the East and West Indies, South America, and China. 

 In Africa, this plant, which seldom rises more than 4 or 5 ft. high in Eng- 

 land, attains the size of a considerable tree. Clusius observed it in Spain, 

 with a trunk as large as a man's body, and 15 or 20 ft. high. Ray asserts 

 that in Sicily it is as large as the common elder tree, woody, and peren- 

 nial." An oil is expressed from the seeds by the following process: — "The 

 seeds being freed from the husks, which are gathered upon their turning 

 down, and when beginning to burst open, are first bruised in a mortar, 

 afterwards tied up in a linen bag, and then thrown into a large pot, with a 

 sufficient quantity of water, and boiled till the oil is risen to the surface, 

 when it is carefully skimmed off, strained, and kept for use." Castor oil is 

 of a pale yellow colour, with little taste or smell; it is often adulterated 

 with olive oil, linseed oil, and poppy oil : it is used as a laxative, acting 

 mildly and speedily, and, unlike other purgatives, its doses may be often 

 lessened when an individual is in the habit of taking it. — Ahhse^d offici- 

 nalis, Officinal Althaea, or Marsh-mallow. A native perennial, with spindle- 

 shaped and somewhat woody roots, and stems 5 ft. high. " All parts of 

 the plant yield a mucilage by infusion or decoction in water ; the root does 

 so most abundantly, and, freed from the outer bark, is kept in shops. It is 

 white, inodorous, and insipid." An alcoholic infusion of the flowers, pre* 

 viously dried by a steam heat, out of contact with light, gives a sensible 

 tinge of green, on being mixed with pure water, containing a very minute 

 portion of potash, one thousandth part of carbonate of soda, and one twenty- 

 fifth part of lime water. The roots, boiled and beaten up, are sometimes 

 applied as poultices. — iStrychnos (stronnumi, to overthrow; poisonous effects) 

 nux vomica; Apocynedd. A middle-sized tree, common on the coast of. 

 Coromandel, with leaves and flowers not unlike the common dogwood, and 

 berries about the size of a pretty large apple, covered with a somewhat hard 

 shell, of a rich orange colour when ripe, and filled with a soft jelly-like 

 pulp. " Nux-vomica is one of the narcotico-acrid class of poisons, and seems 

 to have a direct power over the spinal cord. It produces laborious respir- 

 ation, which is followed by torpor, trembling, coma, convulsions, and 

 death. It is fatal to dogs, hares, wolves, foxes, cats, rabbits, ducks, crows, 

 and other birds ; and Loureiro poisoned a horse by an infusion made of the 

 seeds in a half-roasted state. Hoffman reports that a young girl, ten years 

 of age, labouring under an obstinate quartan fever, took, at two doses, 15 

 grains of nux-vomica; she died in a short time, after having experienced 



