

F A B A C E iE. 243 



who states, that during his residence in Guiana, he found it in general use as a 

 remedy in the removal of lumbrici. In consequence of his recommendation 

 it was introduced into Europe, and was employed very generally. 



The officinal portion is the hairs of the pods ; these latter are principally 

 brought from the West Indies. They are of a brownish colour, shaped like 

 an italicy, and are densely covered with short, brown, rigid, pungent hairs, 

 which create an intolerable itching when applied to the skin. 



Medical Properties, fyc. — The hairs are celebrated for their anthelmintic 

 properties; these are considered to be wholly mechanical, or in other words, 

 to irritate and pierce the worms, and thus oblige them to relinquish their ad- 

 hesion to the bowel. That they are capable of exercising this action on 

 worms out of the body there is no doubt, but it is difficult to understand how 

 they can operate on the worms in the intestines, without, at the same time, 

 acting equally on the bowel itself; the common explanation of the mucous 

 coat being protected by its secretion, is scarcely sufficient to account 

 for it, as the worms are also enveloped in it, added to which these spi- 

 cule would readily penetrate this mucus. Another objection is, that the 

 spiculse are softened by the fluids of the stomach and bowels, so as to lose 

 most of their penetrating and irritating power, and yet there is no other mode 

 of explaining their action, except as mechanical agents, as a decoction has 

 no anthelmintic power, nor is there any thing in the chemical composition of 

 the hairs that could induce a vermifuge effect, as the only article found besides 

 lignin was some tannin. Be the cause what it may, there can be no doubt 

 of the efficacy of this remedy in the expulsion of lumbrici. The mode of 

 administration is to mix a sufficient quantity' of the setse with molasses or 

 syrup to give it the consistence of thick honey, of this a teaspoonful is a dose 

 for a child, and a tablespoonful for an adult, to be taken night and morning, 

 to be followed in a few days by a brisk cathartic. 



The roots are used by the native practitioners in India as a remedy in 

 cholera, being given in a strong infusion, sweetened with honey ; and Ainslie 

 also states that the beans are used as food. 



There are several other species all possessing the same hairy pods, and pro- 

 bably identical in their effects ; among which the M. prurita, as before stated, 

 has generally been confounded with the plant under consideration. 



Pterocarpus. — Linn. 



Sepals 5, cohering at base. Petals 5. Stamens 10, variously combined. Legume in- 

 dehiscent, irregular, somewhat falcate, surrounded with a wing, often varicose, 1 — 3-celled ; 

 each cell 1-seeded. ' 



This genus, which derives its name from the orbicular and winged form of 

 its seed-vessels, contains about twenty-five species of trees and shrubs pecu- 

 liar to tropical climates ; they all have an astringent bark, and generally 

 abound in red-coloured resinous juice. , Several species have been employed 

 in medicine, though but two are recognised as officinal. 



1. P. erinaceus, Lamarck. — Leaves pinnate; leaflets alternate, elliptical, obtuse, gla- 

 brous above somewhat pubescent beneath. Legume with a short, straight point. 



Lamarck, Diet. v. 728; De Candolle, Prod. ii. 419; Stephenson and 

 Churchill, iii. 168; Hooker in Gray Trav. 395. 



Description. — A middle-sized tree, with spreading branches, covered with an ash.co- 

 loured bark. The leaves are deciduous, pinnate ; the leaflets are alternate, ovate, entire, 

 smooth above and reddish pubescent beneath, and supported on short petioles. The 

 flowers are numerous, yellow, on short curved peduncles, furnished with two small subu- 

 late bracts. They are in compound and terminal racemes. The calyx is campanulate, 

 unequally 5-toothed, pubescent. The flowers are caducous, and consist of a roundish, 



