17 



or some other unknown cause accounts for the failure. But 

 the same thing has to be said for all the so-called dysentery 

 remedies. 



On the whole, I consider the drug as of distinct value in 

 the treatment of dysentery, and an addition to our list of 

 remedies which I should not care to be without. For some 

 reason the second supply of the tincture has not done so well, 

 but whether the fact lies in the plant, the method of prepara- 

 tion or the nature of the cases, I am not yet in a position to 

 state. The dysentery cases admitted during the last few 

 weeks have certainly been less acute than formerly, and it may 

 be that the drug is more valuable in the acute stage. We 

 shall continue the use of the preparation and I hope to be able 

 to send you a further report." 



The failure of the second supply of the tincture may per- 

 haps be explained by the fact, that Monsonia biflora from which 

 the first lot of tincture was made is an up-country plant, and 

 the supply that I had of it was gathered near Charlestown, 

 from which district I was shut out in consequence of the war, 

 I therefore obtained a small quantity of M. ovata var biflora 

 which is found in the coast districts, and from this plant the 

 second lot of the tincture was made. On receipt of Dr. 

 Elliot's letter I directed that a small quantity of M. biflora that 

 we had growing in the Gardens and which by that time was 

 ready for gathering should be dried and sent to him, and on 

 March 17th he wrote as under: — 



" We have not at present in Hospital any suitable cases 

 for the drug, and have stopped taking in cases preparatory to 

 handing over to the R.A.M.C. I shall therefore hand over 

 the plant to my successor, and ask him to report to you when 

 he has had opportunity of further trial. We leave for Home 

 in ten days or thereby." 



I have heard nothing from the Hospital since then, and 

 therefore do not know the result of the trial of the second lot 

 of the plant sent. 



At the request of Mr. Pearson, the representative in South 

 Africa of Messrs. Burroughs, Wellcome & Co., of London, I 

 have sent to that firm a box of dried plants which are supposed 

 to have medicinal properties, the plants sent are Blepharis 

 hirtinervia, which I obtained near Ladysmith, and Blepharis sp, 

 from beyond Greytown ; Blepharis capensis which is the only 

 species of the genus previously reported on is not so far as I am 

 aware found in Natal, though one of those which I have sent 

 and of which I am not able to give the specific name apparently 

 comes very near to it, some of these plants are used by the 



