PINACEiE. (509 



Common Names. — Savin ; Common Savin. 



Foreign Names. — Sabine, Fr. ; Sabina, It. ; Swenbaum, Ger. 



An evergreen shrub indigenous to the South of Europe and Asiatic Russia. 

 The tips of the branches and their investing leaves are officinal. These, 

 when dried, have a bitter, acrid taste, and a strong disagreeable odour. These 

 properties are owing to the presence of a Volatile oil, which can be obtained 

 by distillation with water; this oil is limpid, almost colourless, and has the 

 odour and taste of the plant. 



Medical Uses. — Savin and its oil are powerful stimulants, and are supposed 

 to have a special action on the uterus, and hence have been administered in 

 amenorrhcea, and with some success, where there is no local or general ex- 

 citement. It is also thought to be capable of inducing abortion in the pregnant 

 female, and is- one article resorted to for this purpose, too often at the ex- 

 pense of the mother's life, as in an over-dose it acts like an irritant poison. 

 Dr. Chapman speaks of it with some praise in chronic rheumatism. It has 

 also proved effectual as an anthelmintic. 



It is principally employed in the. form of cerate to keep a discharge from 

 blistered surfaces. This cerate, mixed with verdigris, is a good application 

 to venereal warts. The dose of the powder is from five to ten grains ; of the 

 oil from two to five drops. 



3. J. virginiana, Linn. — A middle-sized tree, with a straight trunk and horizontal 

 branches. The small twigs covered with small, densely imbricated leaves. These leaves 

 are fleshy, concave, rigidly acute, with a minute gland on the middle of their outer side. 

 Sterile flowers in small oblong aments, formed of peltate scales, concealing the anthers 

 between them. Fertile flowers in a small roundish strobile or galbanus, with two or three 

 seeds. 



Linn., Sp. PI. 1471 ; Bigelow, Med. Bot. iii. t. 45 ; Loudon, Arboret. 

 2495 ; Marshall, Arbust. Am. 70 ; Michaux, N. A. Syl. iii. 221. 

 Common Names. — Cedar-tree ; Red Cedar. 



The Red Cedar is a native of most parts of the United States, but attains 

 the greatest size in the Southern States. It is well known for its durable and 

 odoriferous heart- wood, of a reddish colour. The leaves are officinal ; they 

 very closely resemble those of J. sabina, but may be distinguished by their 

 more agreeable odour. 



Medical Uses. — The leaves have the same properties as Savin, but are less 

 efficient, either as an internal remedy or external application. Small ex- 

 crescences are often found on the small branches, produced like galls, by the 

 puncture of an insect, and having a somewhat aromatic smell, and a bitterish 

 taste; these are much employed in domestic practice as an anthelmintic, and 

 have proved serviceable in many cases, but should not be relied upon to the 

 exclusion of more certain and efficient articles. 



Some other plants of this tribe afford useful products ; thus Sandarach, a 

 whitish-yellow, brittle, inflammable resin, of an acrid, aromatic taste, has been 

 thought to be an exudation from Juniperns communis, but is shown by Bron- 

 gniart and Shousboe, to be obtained from Callitris quadrivalvis, a native of 

 Barbary. The wood is considered, by the Moors', to be indestructible, and is 

 employed by them in the construction of their mosques. A somewhat simi- 

 lar substance is yielded by Thuya, but in very small quantities. The leaves 

 of T. occidentalis or Arbor vitce, are said to form an excellent irritating oint- 

 ment, which has proved useful in rheumatism, &c. A decoction of the leaves 

 has been popularly used in a variety of complaints, and the oil obtained from 

 them by distillation has been noticed as a good vermifuge. The leaves of 



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