U V A 



U V A 



water ftrike a deep black colour, with folution of chalybeate 

 vitriol, but foon depofit the black matter, and become clear. 

 For their ufe in dyeing, fee Dyeing of Cloths, &c. 



The leaves of the uva urfi, though employed by the an- 

 cients in feveral difeafes requiring aftringent medicines, had 

 almoft entirely fallen into difufc, till about the middle of the 

 laft century, when they firft drew the attention of phyficians 

 as a ufeful remidy in calculous and nephritic complaints, 

 and other d'r^.rdcrs of the urinary organs. See Stone. 



De Haea relates, after large experience of this medicine 

 in the hofpital of Vjenna, that fuppurations, though oblHnate 

 and of long- continuance, in the kidneys, ureters, bladder, 

 urethra, fcrotum, and perineum, without any venereal taint 

 or evident marks of a calculu were in general completely 

 cured by it ; that of thofe v;lio had a manifcft calculus, fe- 

 veral frnnd j)ermanent relief, fo that, long after the medi- 

 cine had been left off, they continued free from pain or 

 inconvenience in making water, though the catheter {hewed 

 that the calculus ftill remained ; that others, who feemed to 

 be cured, relapled on leaving off the medicine, and were 

 again fucceflively relieved on repeating the ufe of it ; while 

 others obtained only temporary and precarious relief. In 

 feveral cafes, paregorics were joined to the uva urfi, and 

 other mild aftrineents have been rccoitimended for the fame 

 intentions. 



' Encouraged by his fuccefs, and by the praftice of the 

 pHyficians at Montpelier, who had been in the habit of 

 prefcribing uva urfi in the dil'-aie above mentioned for 

 many years before his time, many medical men in this 

 country have been induced ?o try its effefts ; and though 

 the ufe of this planl has been frequently obferved to mitigate 

 the pains in calculous cafes, yet in no inftances do we find 

 that it has produced that efTential or permanent relief, 

 which is faid to have been experienced by the German phy- 

 ficians. 



From the experiments of Dr. Alexander, the leaves of 

 liva urfi feem to poflefs very httle diuretic power, and thofe 

 made by Murray (hew that they have no material effeft upon 

 the urinary calculi : tlif efficacy they may, therefore, have 

 in reheving the calculous difeafes, we are difpofed to afcribe 

 to their aftringency ; and in confirmation of this opinion we 

 may cite the obfcrvation of Dr. CuUen, who, in his chapter 

 on Aifringcnts, notices the diU'ertation of De Heucher, 

 under the title of " Calculus per adftringentia pellendus :" 

 and thougli he docs not think, with this author, that aftrin- 

 gents are lithontriptics, yet from his own experience, and 

 that of others, he beheves they often have a powerful effeft 

 in relieving calculous fymptoms ; and in proof of this he 

 refers to the exhibition of the uva urfi. The leaves may be 

 employed either in powder or dccoftion ; the former is mod 

 commonly preferred, and given in dofes from a fcruple to a 

 drachm two or three times a day. 



Dr. Lewis obferves, that the trials of the uva urfi, made 

 in this country, have by no means anfwered expeftation : in 

 all cafes within his knowledge, it produced great ficknefs 

 and uneafinefs, without any apparent benefit, though con- 

 tinued for a month. And in a cafe of incontinence of urine. 

 Dr. Fothergill obferves, the uva urfi, fo much extolled of 

 late in ulcers of the urinary paffages, feemed but to aggra- 

 vate the fymptoms. (Med. Obf. and Inf. vol. iii. p. 144.) 

 But in the preface to this volume we are told, that the uva 

 urfi had been frequently prefcribed fuccefsfuUy by many of 

 the members of the Society of Phyficians in London. It 

 is obferved by Murray, the calculi were macerated in a 

 flrong decotlion of the uva urfi. Dr. Withering, fpeaking 

 of the effefts of this plant, fays : Perhaps, upon the whole, 

 we (hall find it no better than other vegetable ailringents ; 



fome of which have been long ufed by the country people in 

 gravelly complaints, and with very great advantage ; though 

 hitherto unnoticed by the regular practitioners. Cullen. 

 Lewis. Woodville. 



Uva Vulp'is, a name given by fome a\ithors to the com- 

 mon night(hade. 



UVARIA, in Botany, fo named by Linnaeus, from uva, 

 a grape, or bunch of grapes, in allufion to the appearance 

 of its fruit. — Linn. Gen. 279. Schreb. 374. Willd. Sp. 

 PI. V. 2. 1261. Mart. Mill. Dia. v. 4. Ait. Hort. 

 Kew. v; g. 333. Juff. 2S4. Lamarck lUuftr. t. 495. 

 De Candolle Syft. v. i. 481. Gaertn. t. 114 — Clafs and 

 order, Polvandria Polygyma. Nat. Ord. Coadunatit, Linn. 

 Anonir, JuiT. Anonacea, De Cand. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, flat, in 

 three deep, ovate, acute, permanent fegments. Cor. Petals 

 fix, lanceolate, feffile, fpreading, longer than the calyx. 

 Stam. Filaments none ; anthers numerous, oblong, abrupt, 

 covering the convex receptacle. Pt/l. Germens numerous, 

 crowded, concealed by the anthers ; ftyles numerous, the 

 length of the anthers ; ftigmas obtufe. Perk. Berries dif- 

 x\a&, numerous, fomewhat (talked, nearly globular, of 

 feveral cells. .Seeds four or more, in two rows. 



E(r. Ch. Calyx in three deep fegments. Petals (ix. 

 Berries numerous, (talked. Seeds feveral, in two rows. 



Linnaeus and feveral following authors have referred to 

 this genus a confiderable number of fpecies, with the nature 

 of whofe fruits they were not, in every inftance, perfectly 

 acquainted ; efpecially without fufBcient difcrimination be- 

 tween fuch as were true berries, and others of a capfular 

 n.iture. The learned profeffor De Candolle, now happily 

 efcaped from public perfecution in France, as a Proteftant, 

 and fettled, with diilinftion, at Geneva, has juft publi(hed 

 the firll volume of hie Regni fegetabilis Sv/Iema Naturale, a 

 mod profound and elab.orate work, where the natural order 

 to which the prefcnt genus belongs is illuftrated, by a far 

 greater number of fpecies than it had ever before been fup- 

 pofed to contain. This author remcfteq to Unona (fee 

 that article) many things hitherto confidered as Uvarin, 

 making the character of Unona to confid in its dry fruits, 

 of an ovate-oblong, or fomewhat beaded, (hape. Hence 

 the faid genus is extended to thirty-fix fpecies. We regret 

 that our account of it had been fent to the prefs, before thq 

 work of our learned friend reached us. We can now only 

 profit by his labours, and trace his fieps, through the genus 

 Uvaria, of which he makes but eight fpecies. Thefe are 

 all natives of the Eall Indies, or tiie adjacent iflands. They 

 are trees or fhrubs, with ereft or trailing flems ; the Jloiver- 

 Jlalks either axillary, oppofite to the leaves, or lateral, foli- 

 tary, or two or three together, bearing from one to four 

 flowers, and often furniihed with fmall bracteas, or jointed 

 in the middle. Several fpecies referred by various botanills 

 to the genus before us, now help to conftitute a new one in 

 profeffor De Candolle's work, by the name of Guatteria, 

 confifting of twenty in all. Its fruits, nurlierous likewife 

 in each flower, are dry, coriaceous, ovate or globofe, fingle- 

 feeded. Uvaria japonica of Linnsus, Thunberg, Willde- 

 now, &c. ftands by itfelf in a genus bearing the barbarous 

 Japanefe name of Kadfura, which Juffieu, it feems, has un- 

 happily felefted, in the Annales du Mufeum, v. 16. 340. 

 It comes next to Anona, having like that an aggregate 

 pulpy fruit, but with two feeds in each cell, inftead of the 

 folitary ones of Anona. 



I. U. ■zeyJanlca. Ceylon Uvaria. Linn. Sp. PI. 756, 

 excluding the fynonyms of Rheede and Rumphius. De 

 Cand. n. I. Gaertn. f. I. Lamarck f. 2. (Uvaria; 

 Linn. Zeyl. 100. n. 224, not 234. Uva zeylaiiica fylvef- 



tris, 



