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CHAPTER VI. 



New Drugs. 



To give a complete list of the new remedies that have 

 been brought to the notice of the British pharmacist during 

 a comparatively recent period would occupy much more 

 space than would be justifiable, for scarcely a week now 

 passes without the appearance of a note on some novelty in 

 the pages of the medical and pharmaceutical journals. It 

 will therefore suffice to enumerate only those to which most 

 attention has been given, such as those which have already 

 come into use, or which promise to become established 

 medicines. Those which are enumerated below are classified 

 in alphabetical order of their scientific nomenclature. 



Ahrus precatorius. — A common tropical plant belonging 

 to the natural order Leguminosse, well known for its small 

 globose scarlet and black seeds, which are used almost every- 

 where in the tropics for making necklaces, bracelets, and 

 other ornaments, as well as for weights by the diamond 

 merchants in India. These seeds began to attract attention 

 in 1882, having been experimented with on the Continent 

 in the treatment of ophthalmic diseases under the name of 

 Jequieity. In Egypt they are occasionally used as an 

 article of food, and are harmless, but powdered and intro- 

 duced beneath the skin they rapidly produce fatal efiects. 

 The poisonous action is due to the presence of abriiie, which 

 is rendered inert by heat, and is closely allied to albumin in 

 composition. It is obtainable also from the roots and stem. 

 This plant has recently become known as the weather 

 plant. 



Alstonia scholaris. — A tree 50 to 80 feet high, widely 

 diffused in India, Africa, and Australia, and belonging to 



