THE MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF TREES. 249 
flowers. It has within a few years been advanced to 
the front rank among remedies employed to prevent 
miscarriages. Although for along time enjoying a mere 
local reputation, in some sections, as a remedy in threat- 
ened abortion, it was not until the year 1876 that it was 
brought prominently to the notice of the medical pro- 
fession, in a paper read before the American Gynzeco- 
logical Society, by Professor E. W. Jenks, late of Detroit, 
but now of Chicago, Illinois. The high position occu- 
pied by Doctor Jenks in his profession vested his claims 
for black haw with much interest, and the tests to which 
they were soon after put have but tended to substanti- 
ate them. It acts as a sedative to that irritable condi- 
tion of the womb which manifests itself both in habitual 
miscarriages and in painful menstruation, for which lat- 
ter condition it is perhaps more valuable than even in 
threatened abortion. 
The bark of the root is the part employed, and it is 
most conveniently given in the form of a fluid extract. 
Brack Watnot (Juglans nigra) is not so extensively 
employed in medicine as its congener, the white walnut 
or butternut (/uglans cinerea). The expressed juice of 
the rind is said to have cured herpes, eczema, etc.; and 
a decoction of the rind possesses also the property of re- 
moving worms from the intestines. The leaves have 
been latterly very highly recommended as a remedy in 
scrofula. 
Brack Oak (Quercus tinctoria). The black oak is one 
of the loftiest and most majestic trees of the forest. Its 
bark is strongly astringent, and is largely employed in 
tanning and dyeing. Its astringent properties suggest its 
use in diarrhoea, and as an injection in lax conditions of 
the mucous membrane of either intestines or other surface 
covered with this membrane. In relaxed uvula and sore- 
throat, and as an astringent wash in spongy granula- 
tions (proud flesh), hemorrhoids, etc., it has proven of 
value. The ground bark, incorporated in a poultice, has 
