303 
PH ARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
Wednesday, November 1st , 1865. 
MR. T. H. HILLS, VICE-PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR. 
The minutes of the previous meeting having been read, the following 
DONATIONS TO THE LIBRARY AN1) MUSEUM 
were announced, and the thanks of the meeting given to the respective donors 
thereof:— 
The Educational Times. 
The Medical Circular. 
The Chemical News. 
The Chemist and Druggist. 
The Veterinarian. 
The Photographic Journal. 
The Technologist. 
The Assurance Magazine. From the respective Editors. 
The Journal of the Chemical Society. _ . . 
Proceedings of the Pogal Institution of Great Britain. From the respectn c bocities. 
Rinderpest , its Prevention and Cure , and Gypsum as a Sanitary Agent. l>v J. J. 
Lundy. From the Author. 
The following papers were read:— 
ON THE MEDICINAL USES OF THE INDIAN SPECIES OF 
BARBERRY. 
BY L. \V. STEWART, ESQ., SURGEON IN THE MADRAS ARMY. 
[ Abstract .] 
Little is known, I believe, in the present day, of that ancient medicine named 
Lykion Indikon , prepared from certain shrubs of the order Berberidece. The 
drug is of great antiquity, having been used by Dioscoricles in a variety of com¬ 
plaints. Galen also mentions it as being most valuable, particularly the Indian 
variety. Two varieties were in use among the ancients, the one obtained from 
Lycia and Cappadocia, the other from India. 
The medicine in the form of an extract is still used by the hukkeems or native 
practitioners of the East, under the name of RFissot , and is principally employed 
by them in cases of ophthalmia. I procured some of it from the bazar at J ubbul- 
pore in 1857, but found it adulterated with a substance resembling aloes. 
There are many species of Berberis indigenous to India, that is m the ml - 
ranges; but they are much alike in general appearance and medicinal pioperties, 
with the exception of Berberis Leschenaidtii , also called Mahonia nepaulensis 
which has large pinnate leaves and round berries. lor a full description of t ns 
order of plants, I beg to refer to Hooker’s Botanical Miscellany , Drs. Hoo T ei 
and Thomson’s Flora Indica and Preccursores ad Floram Indicam, Colonel 
lleber Drury’s Useful Plants of India and his Handbook of the Indian Flora. 
In the Indian Annals of Medical Science, for April 1856, there are two reports 
on Barberry and its preparations by Drs. W. S. Stiven andC. R. Francis. I e 
former gentleman gives at some length its botanical description, its chemica an< 
pharmaceutical history, medicinal action, etc. 
It was in consequence of perusing this report that I was first induced to vy 
the medicine in intermittent fevers when stationed at dubbulpore in 18ob-o/. 
From that date up to the present, my experience of it (using a very strong 
