560 
ALUMINIUM SUTURES. 
be withdrawn as instantaneously as it is generated. Becquerel, 
of Paris, also successfully employs this modification of the 
actual cautery. 
THE NEEM OR MARGOSA TREE. 
In the Indian Annals of Medicine , attention is drawn to 
this tree, which for centuries, we are told, has been held in 
the highest estimation by the natives of India, who have 
applied every part of it to some medicinal use. Thus the 
bark, which is intensely bitter, has been regarded by them as 
an excellent tonic and anti-periodic. It may be given in the 
form of powder, a tincture, or decoction. The seeds, and oil 
obtained from them, are anthelmintic ; the bark of the root is 
an emmenagogue ; the gum, which exudes plentifully, an 
aphrodisiac ; and the leaves, applied in the form of poultice, 
after having been beaten to a pulp in a mortar, constitute a 
valuable application for ill-conditioned sloughing ulcers, and 
some cutaneous affections, as psora and pustular eruptions. 
We allude to it with a view to bring it under the notice of 
our professional brethren in India, so that the} 1, may subject 
preparations from the tree to the test of experiment, which 
appears to be met with in all parts of the peninsula of India, 
and also in Ceylon and Java. We should, for the profession’s 
sake be glad to record the results of their inquiries. 
ALUMINIUM SUTURES. 
Dr. J. M. Fordsham, in a letter to the editor of the 
Lancet , recommends as a cheap substitute for the silver 
suture, one made of aluminium. He states it to be equally 
pliable, not causing any irritation, nor becoming discoloured; 
besides which, it is about half the price of silver. 
