UEVTEWS. 
54-1 
with the Preparations of those which are included in the British Pharmacopoeia; and at 
the commencement of the volume we have tables of the Weights and Measures, and of 
the Symbols and Equivalent Weights of the Elementary Bodies mentioned in the 
British Pharmacopoeia, and some other useful tables, indicating the changes which have 
taken place in the British Pharmacopoeia of 18(47 as compared with that of 1864. 
Each chapter is commenced by a short description of the class of remedies of which it 
treats, and then the separate medicines are treated of in an alphabetical order. As an 
illustration of the style, character, and scope of the descriptions, we subjoin the follow¬ 
ing notice of “Uvae Ursi Folia”:— 
“ Uv^: Ursi Folia. Bearberry Leaves. (The dried leaves of Arctostaphylos Uva- 
Ursi, Spreng. Syst. Woodv. Med. Bot. plate 70 (Arbutus Uva-Ursi). From indige¬ 
nous plants.) Uva-Ursi is an indigenous plant belonging to the natural family Eri¬ 
caceae, and to the Linnaean Class and Order Decandria Monogynia. 
“ botanical characters. —A small trailing shrub with obovate, entire, coriaceous 
leaves, evergreen ; flowers in small dense terminal racemes, of a rose-colour; fruit, in¬ 
correctly named a berry , small, scarlet, fleshy, 5-celled, cells single-seeded. 
“characters. —Obovate, entire, coriaceous shining leaves, about three-fourths of an 
inch in length, reticulated beneath ; with a strong astringent taste, and a feeble hay¬ 
like odour when powdered ; the infusion giving a bluish-black precipitate with per- 
chloride of iron. Leaves not dotted beneath nor toothed on the margin. 
“physical properties. —The dried leaves are dark green, shining, convex above, 
concave and reticulated on the under surface ; they have a very astringent somewhat 
bitter taste, and emit a faint odour in the process of pulverization. 
“chemical properties. —They contain 36 - 4 per cent, of tannin, with some gallic 
acid, resin, extractive, salts, etc. They yield their astringency to water and to alcohol. 
A peculiar bitter principle has been recently obtained from the leaves by Kawalier, 
which has been termed Arbulin ; it is crystallizable in long, thin, colourless prisms, is 
soluble in alcohol, ether, and water; fuses when heated, and solidifies into an amorphous 
mass. 
“adulterations. —The leaves of the red whortle-berry ( Vaccinium Vitis-ldcea ), and 
of the common Box (Buxus sempervirens), are often either mixed with, or substituted 
for Uva-Ursi; the former are readily distinguished by their under surface being dotted, 
not reticulate ; and the latter by their emarginate apex and want of astringency. 
“ therapeutical effects —The employment of uva-ursi as an astringent is now 
altogether restricted to chronic diseases of the urino-genital apparatus attended with 
mucous discharge (its use in acute attacks not being admissible), as in the advanced 
stages of catarrh of the bladder, in gleet, leucorrhoea, etc. To produce any beneficial 
effects, its use must be persevered in for a considerable time. Very discordant opinions 
have been expressed on its utility in these affections by two such eminent authorities as 
Prout and Brodie ; the former speaking favourably of its use, especially w r hen combined 
with tincture of hyoscyamus, and if persevered in for a sufficiently long time, whilst the 
latter states that he has never met with the good results alluded to by others. I have 
found the extract to act very beneficially, combined with dried carbonate of soda and 
Dover’s powder, in chronic albuminous nephritis, when there is excessive secretion of 
urine. 
“dose and mode of administration. —In powder, gr. xx to 5j. 
“ preparation. —Infusum Uvse-Ursi, one ounce to one pint. 
“ Infusum Uvae- Ursi. Infusion of Bearberry. (Take of bearberry leaves bruised, 
half an ounce ; boiling distilled water, ten fluid ounces. Infuse in a covered vessel for 
two hours, and strain.) Dose, f^j to f^iij; both this preparation, however, and the 
powder, are so offensive to many stomachs, that some practitioners prefer administering 
it in the form of extract, a formulary for which was contained in the last edition of the 
London Pharmacopoeia, but which is no longer officinal; it may, however, be prepared 
thus:— 
“ Extractum Uvce-Ursi. (Uva-Ursi, bruised, lbiiss; boiling distilled water, cong. 
ij ; macerate for twenty-four hours ; then boil down to a gallon and strain the liquor 
while yet hot; lastly, evaporate to a proper consistence.) Dose, gr. v to gr. xv twice or 
three times a day.” 
Although the work is more especially intended as a guide to the medicines contained 
