{ 242 J 



found the plant to be a fpecies of Milkwort^ which 

 Hands now in Linn^us's works under the name 

 of Polygala Senega^ (Spec. PI. 990.) and of this 

 genus there are not fewer than 26 fpecies known. 

 The defcription of the Senega is accompanied by 

 a figure of the plant. The root, v/hich is the 

 part alone ufed in medicine, affords an acrimony 

 on the palate, perhaps unexampled in the whole 

 Materia Medka» The author gives the analyfis of 

 the root, enumerates its effedVs as a fialagogue^ diu- 

 retic^ and expe^lorant ; the various preparations, 

 .and their ufe in inflammatory difeafes, dropfy, 

 gout, rheumatifm ; in a difeafe which he mentions 

 as endemic in Virginia^ under the name of Ma- 

 rafmus Virginicus^ and finally as the great fpecific 

 to the venom of the rattle- fnake i to which end 

 the Indians inftantly chew it, fwallow the juice, 

 and apply the mafticated root to the pundure. 

 The root of the Polygala vulgaris^ which grows fo 

 plentifully in England^ appears from experiments 

 to pofTefs the qualities of. the Senega^ but in a far 

 weaker degree. 



23. Genesis Calculi. J, O. Hagftrom, 1749. 



Before Dr. Hagftrom comes to the immediate 

 confideration of the origin of the Calculus of the 

 urinary bladder, he premifes fome obfervations 

 on calcareous fubflances in general % and enume- 

 rates, the feveral kinds of calculous concretions^ 

 and their fituations in the animal body : fuch are 

 she CfJcuks Urina y Saliva j Pulmomm Gajiru:us ; 



