109 



the other not yet described. ^ " The correctness of these statements was 

 subsequently borne omt by the testimony of various eminen t physicians. 

 Dr. Gomez of Lisbon successfully treated fourteen persons for tapeworm 

 in 1822, and the results were afterwards published in France by Merat. 

 The latter publication seems to have contributed lar^^ely to spread the 

 use of this drug as a remedy for tapeworm throughout Europe. In 

 England, however, pomegranate, it seems, has not as yet replaced the 

 male-fern. In India the drug is now considered the sovereign remedy 

 for tenia as various writers testify. 



In this connection it may be of interest to state that in India the 

 pcMxiegraiiate root-bark is seldom met with in the shops As few 

 gardens are without the plant, it is freshly dug when required. Royle 

 and others maintained that the dry bark seems not to contain any de- 

 finite tenicide principles, but De Yrij brought evidence to the contrary. 

 However, the alkaloid pelletierine was tried as a tenifuge with much 

 success and is now extensively employed in the form of a tannate. 



The balaustion flowers possess no tenifuge property. Merat and De 

 Lens state that accordimg to Culler the rind of the fruit has less ver- 

 mifuge power than the bark of the root, which statement is supported 

 by the evidence of physicians for whom the writer has prepared the 

 remedy. 



Other uses in Medicine. — The pomegranate, besides being used as a 

 vermifuge, is employed, although more rarely, for other medicinal pur- 

 poses, e.g., for arresting hemorrhage and healing ulcers Charaka- 

 Samhita gives the fruife (rind?) a position as an astringent (p. 15 and 

 33) in diarrhoea. Two varieties are described (p. 357), both being known 

 under the name " dadima " In modern India, a decoction of pomegra- 

 nate rind is used in combination with aromatics and opiam for diarrhoea, 

 and a decoction of the root is said to be useful in the advanced stage of 

 dysentery. The ancient writers, as Dioscorides and Pliny indicate 

 numerous uses in medicine lor the various parts and the several 

 species cf the pomegranate, some passages furnishing rather curious 

 reeding matter, which, however, we cannot find space to repeat. 



PHARMACOPEIAL RECORD. 



The antiquity of the plant explains the fact that the drug found a 

 place in early pharmacopeias. The Pharmacopoeia Borussica of 1829 

 (5th edition) recognized granatum, cortex pomi and flores balaustiae. 

 In the 6th edition of 1846, however, we find only cortex radicis granati. 

 This was extended in the 1882 edition to cortex graniti, which meant 

 the bark of the plant and that of the root. The balaustion flowers, 

 usually collected from the double variety, were still official in 184-1 in 

 the Dublin Pharmacopeia. 



As regards the United State Pharmacopeia, granatum was first re- 

 cognized in 1830, the Philadelphia edition introducing the rind of the 

 fruit, the New York edition the bark of the root. The subsequent 

 editions carried both, until in 1880 the rind of the fruit was dropped. 

 In the 1890 edition the stem-bark was added. 



* For a Hst of references in this direction. See Merat & PeLeas (14.) 



