Medical Botany. 



313 



successfully employed in the treatment of scrofula. " There seems to be 

 no reason for doubting that this new remedy exerts a very marked influ- 

 ence over scrofulous and adventitious deposits. We have, therefore, 

 numerous and well attested cases of its successful employment in an 

 immense number of diseases, such as white-swelling, deafness, paralysis, 

 distortion of the spine, &c. Professor Maunoir states that a child laboured 

 under a considerable white-swelling of the knee, and could not walk with- 

 out crutches. The usual mode of treatment proving unavailing, the tumour 

 was rubbed night and morning with iodine ointment, while the tincture 

 was given internally in small doses. After a few weeks a perfect cure 

 took place. If iodine be taken in doses too large, or be not properly 

 watched as to its effects, it is apt to produce inflammation of the stomach, 

 attended by nausea, incessant vomiting, and 

 general emaciation ; while the testes and 

 mammae diminish in a remarkable manner." 

 — i^ucus helmintochortos. The fronds of 

 this fucus form a matted tuft {Jig. 61. a, 

 natural size) ; each frond, when magnified (/>), 

 shows small hemispherical bodies, which bo- 

 tanists have called capsules; and, being farther 

 enlarged {c\ the joints appear cartilaginous 

 and irregular. It grows on calcareous rocks 

 in the Mediterranean Sea, on the coast of 

 Corsica: and although almost unknown among 

 British practitioners, has long been sold on 

 the Continent as a vermifuge, under the 

 name of the Corsican Worm-Moss, or Coral- 

 line of Corsica. 



No. XXVIII. for April, coiitains' 

 109 to 112. — ^'loe vulgaris. Common in Jamaica and other West India 

 islands, and the whole plant abounding in a clammy, bitter, yellowish, fetid 

 juice like the A. soccotrina. Six different kinds of aloes are met with in 

 commerce, supposed to be chiefly obtained from these two species. The real 

 Soccotrine aloes are produced by the A. soccotrina, which grows in abund- 

 ance in the Arabian island of Socotora. There " the inhabitants cut or 

 chop the leaves, and make a slight pressure to obtain the juice, which is 

 left to settle. It deposits a feculent matter, which is thrown away. The 

 supernatant liquor, thus freed from its grosser parts, is left to si)ontaneous 

 evaporation ; and it is this difference in the two processes that accounts for 

 the superiority of the real Socotrine aloes over that of the Cape : for there 

 the Hottentots cut the end of the leaves, and catch the liquor which flows 

 from them in proper vessels, the lower leaves of the plant generally serving 

 for canals to conduct it into them. The juice thus obtained is at once 

 reduced to a suitable consistence over the fire, and afterwards packed in 

 boxes containing from one to SOO pounds." By analysis this matter is 

 found to consist of resin 42, extractive 32, and the remainder albumen, or 

 analogous matter. Medicinally, all the aloes are used as warm stimulating 

 purgatives, particularly adapted for what is termed the melancholic tempe- 

 rament. The pills called Anderson's, Hooper's, Dixon's, Speediman's, 

 James's, Lady Webster's, Fothergill's, Peter's, Radcliff"'s, the Dinner Pills,* 

 and the Beaume de Vie are composed chiefly of aloes. — J'llium sativum. 

 Cultivated Allium, or Garlic, which is considered diuretic, diaphoretic, and 

 expectorant. It has also long been celebrated as a domestic remedy for 

 worms. As antidotes to the flavour of garlic and other alliaceous vegeta- 

 bles, the leaves and seeds ,of the aromatic Umbelliferae are recommended, 

 and also baked beet-root. — Siyra\ Benzoin. A tree indigenous to Suma?-' 

 tra, in the northern parts of which it is extensively cultivated. Having 

 attained the age of six or seven years, " incisions are made in the bark, 



