432 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



variation in the parts of fructification in some of the species, which render 

 the genus difficult to be understood, and which will require it to be remodelled. 



I. aquifolium, Linn. — Leaves ovate, acute, spinous. 



Linn., Sp. PI. 181 ; English Bot. t. 496; Flor.Med. iv.t.197; Lindley, 

 Flor. Med. 393. 



Common Name. — Holly. 



Foreign Names. — Houx, Fr. ; Alloro spinoso, It. 



Description. — A small evergreen tree with a smooth, grayish bark. Leaves alternate, 

 almost sessile, oval, of a deep, shining green, very rigid, the lower ones very spinous, the 

 upper entire. Flowers small, yellowish-white, in clusters in the axils of the leaves. Calyx 

 slightly hairy, small. The corolla is monopetalous, rotate, deeply four-cleft, segments ob- 

 tuse, spreading; the stamens are erect, and alternate with the divisions. The ovary is 

 globular, depressed, four-celled, with four sessile stigmas. The fruit is globular, umbili- 

 cated a,t the top, fleshy, scarlet, and contains four bony nucules. 



The Holly is a native of many parts of Europe, sometimes attaining a con- 

 siderable size, but in general is small; it is of very slow growth ; the wood is 

 very hard and heavy, and is employed for a variety of purposes. The in- 

 ner bark is glutinous, and is used in Europe to prepare bird-lime, for which 

 purpose it is suffered to soften by burying it in the earth for some days, after 

 which it is beaten in a mortar, and well washed in water to separate the im- 

 purities. The viscous substance thus obtained is used to catch small birds, 

 and was formerly employed as an application to gouty swellings. The leaves 

 are the only part now considered as medicinal, and have long been in use in 

 a variety of complaints. They have a bitter and disagreeable taste, but no 

 odour; they contain, according to Lassaigne, Wax, a Bitter substance, Gum, 

 several salts, &c. 



Medical Properties. — They were first employed as a diaphoretic, and were 

 considered as efficacious in small-pox, and other cutaneous affections, and 

 were highly recommended by Paracelsus in gout, and have, within a few 

 years, again been well spoken of in this complaint by Werlhof, and by Rous- 

 seau, in rheumatism. But it is as a remedy in intermittent fever that they 

 have attracted the most attention, in consequence of the experiments of Dr. L. 

 G. Rousseau (Nouv. Jour, de Med. xiv. 14), who having learnt that it was a 

 favourite domestic medicine.in intermittents, in various places in France, gave 

 it an extended trial, and states that he was very successful with it even in the 

 severest cases; numerous other practitioners have given the same testimony, 

 and declare that they found it as efficacious as the Peruvian bark. On the 

 other hand, Chomel states that he used it in thirty-two cases, and always with- 

 out benefit ; this result is too opposite to that of others to be received as defi-, 

 nite, and may have arisen from the bad quality of the leaves employed by 

 him, or other modifying influences; the testimony of all other practitioners is 

 in its favour. It is given in powder, in doses of a drachm to a drachm and 

 a half, two or three hours before the expected paroxysm, and it is stated that 

 very often a couple of doses have proved sufficient to remove the complaint. 



The berries are said to be more active than the leaves ; they have an acrid 

 taste, and according to those who have made use of them, are violently emeto- 

 cathartic, causing copious watery evacuations. 



The I. opaca of this country is very' closely allied to, if not identical 

 with the above species, differing from it so little, that it may be considered 

 rather a variety, than a distinct species. The bark, berries, and leaves are 

 employed in domestic medicine, to fulfil a variety of indications, but have not 

 been used in regular practice; they, however, appear to be identical in their 

 effects with those of the foreign plant. 



