TORMENTILLA AS AN ASTRINGENT. 
649 
class of medicines, as it acts without causing any excitement. 
It is reported as being very efficacious in the dysentery of 
cattle. Its composition, as given by Neumann and Pfaff, is — 
Tannin ..... 17*4 
Volatile Oil . v . . .a trace 
Colouring Matter . . . 18*05 
Ditto altered . . . 2*57 
Resin ..... 0*42 
Cerine and Myricine . . 0*73 
Gummy Extractive . . . 4*32 
Gum ..... 28*20 
Extractive Matter . . . 7*70 
Woody Fibre .... 15*0 
Water 6*45 
100*84 (excess 84.) 
Professor Burnett, respecting these plants, says — 
“ Potentilla is a large genus of very ornamental plants, some of which 
were once supposed to afford very potential medicines, and hence the generic 
name. None of them are deleterious, but they are not possessed of any very 
active properties. They are more or less astringent and bitter ; and the 
root of Potentilla replans, which appears to have been the officinal plant of 
the ancients, is still reputed a febrifuge, although in far less esteem than 
before other more potent drugs were known. Economical advantage has 
also been taken of the astringency of these plants, and they have been em- 
ployed in the process of tanning. 
“ The leaves of P. anserina form a favorite food with geese ; and they are 
occasionally used as potherbs. Its roots also are relished both by hogs 
and men; they have something the flavour of a parsnip, but are small. 
They are nevertheless frequently eaten by the common people in Scotland, 
both roasted and boiled. In the islands of Tiray and Col they answer 
in some measure the purposes of bread, and they have been known to 
support the inhabitants for months together, during a scarcity of pro- 
visions. 
“The leaves of P.fruticosa and rupestris are employed in Siberia as a 
substitute for tea. 
“ Potentilla fragariastum, once considered a species of Eragaria, shows 
the close affinity of this genus with the last ; and Tormentilla , often still 
blended with it, has scarcely any constant differential characters, flowers 
with 4 and 5 petals being occasionally on the same plant. The Tormentils 
are much more astringent than the Potentilla ; and, from their moderating 
the discharges and relieving the tormina in dysentery, they have received 
their generic name. T. officinalis is still retained in our lists of medicines, 
and is a valuable remedy for diarrhoea. The rootstakes are so very astrin- 
gent that they are used in the Hebrides and Orkneys to tan leather, for 
which purpose they are said to be superior even to oak-bark ; lib. being 
equal to 71b. of ordinary tan, according to a report published in the 
‘Transactions of the Natural History Society of Berlin.’ In Lapland the 
the roots are used for dying skins of a red colour. Mr. Young informs us 
that swine are fed on them in Killarney ; and they are also thought to be 
serviceable in some of the diseases to which sheep are subject.”] 
