370 NOTES ON THE ECONOMIC APPLICATION OP BARKS. 



fever, when Peruvian bark has no effect. An infusion or decoction is 

 usually employed, but, if taken in too large quantities, it is apt to 

 cause vertigo and stupor. 



Punica Granatum, L. The Pomegranate. — This is a small, shrubby 

 tree, found wild upon the shores of the Mediterranean, Persia, Arabia, 

 India, and China. It has been introduced into the West Indies, and is 

 now very generaly cultivated in all warm climates, for the sake of its 

 fruit. It is the bark of the root that is used in medicine. It abounds 

 in a peculiar acrid jmnciple called punicin. This bark appears to have 

 been known to the ancients, and used by them as a vermifuge, and it is 

 still used by the native practitioners of Hindostan, as a specific against 

 tapeworm. It has a place in our Materia Medica as a valuable anthel- 

 mintic, and is usually applied in decoction, but can also be administered 

 in powder. The bark as found in commerce is in small pieces, rather 

 brittle ; the entire surface of a yellowish or ashy grey ; the inner, of a 

 pale, dusky yellow. 



Juglans cinerea, L. — This is a l.ative forest tree of North America, 

 where it is known as Butternut. It varies in size according to the place 

 of its growth ; in favourable situations, frequently attaining to fifty or 

 sixty feet high. The inner bark is the medicinal portion, that from the 

 root being considered the most powerful. Its properties are cathartic 

 and rubrufacient, and it has been used in America with success in int er- 

 mittent and remittent fevers. It is employed in the forms both of 

 extract and decoction. The bark, when fresh, is of a clear, white 

 colour, changing to a deep brown when dry, and besides being employed 

 in medicine, is often used for dyeing wool of a dark, brown colour. 



Cratceva tapia, L. — A tree growing about twenty feet high ; native 

 of the West Indies and South America. The properties of the bark are 

 bitter and tonic, and it is sa id to have been employed with success in the 

 cure of intermittent fevers. 



Cedrela toona, Roxb. — An East Indian tree, about 60 feet high. The 

 bark is a very powerful astringent, and is considered extremely effica- 

 cious in fevers, diarrhoea, dysentery, &c. It also has the repute of being 

 a good substitute for cinchona, especially when combined with the 

 powdered seeds of the Guilandina bonduc. In the form of a powder, the 

 bark is applied externally in the cure of ulcers. 



Khaya senegalensis, Juss. — A forest tree, common on the banks of 

 the Gambia, attaining a height of from 80 to 100 feet. The bark, which 

 is called " Cail Cedra," is bitter, and is nsed by the natives either in 

 infusion or decoction, as a febrifuge. 



Liriodendron tulipifera, L. — The tulip tree of North America, where 

 it forms one of the handsomest and most noble of forest trees, frequently 

 attaining 100 feet in height. It ranges from New York to Florida, but 

 is found most abundantly in the forests of the middle and western 

 states. The bark bas a place in the American Pharmacopoeia, its medicinal 

 properties being stimulant and diaphoretic, and it has been used sue- 



