properties with the others, excepting that it has been found to contain a much larger proportion of tannin. 
It is on this account that it has been strongly recommended by Sir J. Smith, as preferable for medicinal 
purposes; to which opinion we cordially subscribe. Neither this, nor the bark yielded by the S .fragilis 
and S. caprea , have undergone as far as we know, any elaborate chemical analysis. 
Medical Properties and Uses.— Although the bark of the Salix Russelliana, is, on the authority 
of Sir J. E. Smith, best adapted for medicinal purposes, it was that of the S. alba which was first used by 
the Rev. E. Stone, of Chipping-Norton, whose paper in Vol. LIII. of the Philosophical Transactions in- 
troduced it to notice ; and from which we make the following extract : — “ I have continued to use it in two 
scruple doses, repeated every four hours between the fits, as a remedy for agues and intermitting disorders, 
for five years successively and successfully. It hath been given, I believe, to fifty persons, and never failed 
in the cure, except in a few autumnal and quartan agues with which the patients had been long and severely 
afflicted : these it reduced in a great degree, but did not completely take them off: the patient, at the usual 
time for the return of his fits, felt some smattering of his distemper, which the incessant repetition of these 
powders could not conquer ; it seemed as if their power could reach thus far and no farther ; and I did 
suppose that it would not have long continued to reach so far, and that the distemper would have soon re- 
turned with its pristine violence ; but I did not stay to see the issue. I added one fifth part of Peruvian 
bark to it, and with this small auxiliary it totally routed its adversary.” 
The willow has not only been noticed, but employed in basket-work in this country from a very early 
period, and there is some probability that the Britons taught the art to the Romans — at least, from the 
mention of a basket brought to Rome by painted Britons, in Martial, we should be led to infer that baskets 
of British manufacture were esteemed in the capital of the world. 
The timber of the willow is applicable to many purposes similar to those in which the poplar is em- 
ployed, and in toughness it is far superior. The ancient Britons sometimes made their boats of basket- 
work of willow, and covered them with the skins of animals : they were remarkably light and buoyant. 
The willow is used extensively in the manufacture of charcoal ; and it has been found to be superior to 
most bther woods in producing charcoal for gunpowder. A good deal depends, however, upon the manu- 
facture. In the ordinary modes of making charcoal, by building the wood up in a pyramidal form, covering 
the pile with clay or earth, and leaving a few air-holes, which are closed as soon as the mass is well lighted, 
combustion is imperfectly formed. For charcoal to be used in the manufacture of gunpowder, the wood 
should be ignited in iron cylinders, so that every portion of vinegar and tar which it produces should be 
suffered to escape. In India, charcoal is manufactured by a particular caste, who dwell entirely in the 
woods, and have neither intermarriage nor intercourse with the Hindoo inhabitants of the open country. 
They bring down their loads of charcoal to particular spots, whence it is carried away by the latter people, 
who deposit rice, clothing, and iron tools, a payment settled by custom. The benevolent Bishop Heber 
wished to mitigate the condition of these unfortunate people, but he found that he could not break through 
the Hindoo prejudice against them. Evelyn, in his Sylva, fears that the progress of our iron manufacture 
would lead to the destruction of all our timber, in the preparation of charcoal for furnaces. He did not 
foresee that we should find a substitute, by charring pit-coal into coke. 
Good charcoal is also made from Dog-wood (Cornus sanguinea), which is, however, a tree, or rather a 
shrub, very different from the willow in its appearance and habits. The Dog-wood is firm and compact; 
grows naturally in hedges upon chalky soils, and bears berries that have a purple juice, out of which a red 
colouring matter of considerable brightness may be extracted. It is very common in Kent and Sussex; 
and as there are many powder mills there, coppices of it are reared for supplying them with charcoal. 
Old Fuller calls the willow “a sad tree, whereof such who have lost their love make their mourning 
garlands ” The twigs hereof are physick to drive out the folly of children. This tree delighteth in moist 
places, and is triumphant in the Isle of Ely, where the roots strengthen their banks, and top affords fuel 
for their fire. It groweth incredibly fast, it being a by-word in this county, that the profit by willows will 
buy the owner a horse before that by other trees will pay for his saddle. 
In the language of Flowers, the Willow is the emblem of melancholy. 
