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THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [August 27, 1870. 
marked than those from the use of other ordinary hitter 
tonics. 
In haemorrhoids and prolapsus recti , it can be advan¬ 
tageously administered in combination with other reme¬ 
dies which are employed "with the view of freeing the 
portal circulation. 
In watery diarrhoea, brought on either from errors of 
diet or changes of temperature, or sedentary habits, and 
which is characterized by a catarrhal state of the mucous 
lining of the stomach and bowels, this remedy proves 
very useful; it arrests the exhalations from the mucous 
surface, and restores the secreting functions. In the ca¬ 
tarrhal diarrhoea of children I have seen remarkably 
good effects from the use of it. In diarrhoea attendant 
on inflammatory causes it is found comparatively inef¬ 
ficient. 
In cholera, it has been found of considerable benefit, 
especially when given in the first stage, when it appeared 
to have considerable power in preventing the disease 
from passing to its second stage. It has been also ob¬ 
served that it checked vomiting and purging sooner than 
the ordinary remedies, and to have changed the colour 
of the stools to yellow without the use of mercurials. It 
did not, however, prove effectual in severe epidemics. 
In intermittent and remittent fevers, it was found to 
have considerable febrifuge powers ; its beneficial action 
in these cases depended more on its property of restoring 
and augmenting the checked secretions, than from any 
sedative effects on the vascular or nervous systems. Its 
antiperiodic properties are not trustworthy, but are 
much more marked than those of several other bitters. 
It proves very useful as an alterative in reducing the 
congestion of the liver and other organs often met with 
in these disorders. In fevers complicated with brain 
symptoms and accompanied with derangement of the 
stomach and liver, I have often found it very beneficial. 
In general debility from various causes, complicated 
with an atonic state of the digestive organs, it proves a 
very valuable tonic and alterative, and may be advan¬ 
tageously combined with preparations of iron. 
In rheumatism and gout its use was found of con¬ 
siderable benefit by improving the state of the digestive 
function, a point of great importance in the treatment of 
these diseases. 
In “ elephantoid fever,” attended with recurring in¬ 
flammation of the scrotum (varix lymphaticus), and chy¬ 
lous condition of the urine, the continued administration 
of this remedy has a marked effect in checking the pro¬ 
gress of the disease. Its use in this disease is deserving 
of further trial. 
I have not observed any decided anthelmintic proper¬ 
ties from the use of it. 
Administration, Preparations, and Doses. — Ailan¬ 
thus bark* can be best prescribed in the form of decoction, 
infusion, extract, or tincture. The following formulae 
were used for the different preparations :— 
Decoction of Ailanthus Dark. —Take of Ailanthus bark 
bruised, four drachms; distilled water, one pint; boil 
for ten minutes in a covered vessel, then strain and pour 
as much distilled water over the contents of the strainer 
as will make the strained product measure a pint. 
Dose. —From one to two fluid ounces twice or thrice 
daily. It contains ailanthate of lime. 
Infusion of Ailanthus Dark. —Take of Ailanthus bark, 
bruised, two drachms; cold water, ten fluid ounces. In¬ 
fuse in a covered vessel for half an hour and strain. 
Dose. —From one to two fluid ounces twice or thrice 
daily. It is a cleaner preparation than the decoction; 
often prescribed in dyspepsia. 
Tincture of Ailanthus Dark— Take of Ailanthus bark, 
bruised, one ounce and a half; proof spirit one pint; 
macerate for seven days in a closed vessel with occasional 
agitation; then strain, press, filter, and add sufficient 
spirit to make one pint. 
* The bark should always be deprived of its thick epi- 
phlceum before use. 
Dose .—From half a drachm to two fluid drachms. 
Extract of Ailanthus Dark .—Take of Ailanthus bark, 
bruised, one pound; distilled water a sufficiency. Mace¬ 
rate the bark with eight fluid ounces of the water for 
twelve hours; then pack in a percolator and adding 
more of the water, allow the liquor slowly to pass until 
the bark is exhausted. Evaporate the liquor; filter be¬ 
fore it becomes too thick; and again evaporate by water- 
bath until the extract is of a suitable consistence for 
forming pills. 
Dose .—From three to five grains, either alone or com¬ 
bined with other tonics or alteratives. 
History.— The bark of this tree appears to have been 
in use as a bitter tonic and alterative amongst the natives 
of India from the earliest periods. The juice of the fresh 
bark has been regarded by them as a valuable remedy 
against indigestion and diarrhoea. The juice of the 
leaves also is occasionally administered by them in bron¬ 
chitic affections as an emetic. The tree, however, is not 
known to the generality of natives, nor is its account 
and identification accurately given in Hindu works on 
materia medica.* 
The native vaidyas (physicians) on this side of India 
are ignorant of the medicinal virtues of the tree. In 
Southern India it appears to be more extensively known, 
for Dr. Ainslie says, “ This bark has a pleasant and 
somewhat aromatic taste, and is prescribed by the native 
practitioners in infusion, in dyspeptic complaints to the 
extent of three ounces twice daily.” f 
In allusion to this Dr. Wight says, “ In confirma¬ 
tion of that statement I may add that some time ago 
specimens of this plant were sent me, as those of a tree, 
the bark of which is prescribed in the Circars as a power¬ 
ful febrifuge and tonic in diseases of debility.” % 
Royle, O’Shaughnessy, Piddington, Roxburgh, Drury, 
and other writers on Indian plants that I know of do 
not allude to the medicinal virtues of this plant; and 
Waring reiterates, in the Pharmacopoeia of India, the 
statements already made by Ainslie and Wight. 
(To be continued .) 
SOCIETY OF ARTS.§ 
On Fermentation. 
BY PROFESSOR A. W. WILLIAMSON, F.R.S. 
Lecture I. 
I have sometimes wished, when building castles in 
the air, that I could, after a few hundred years, come 
back and see the state of science at that time. I am 
convinced that those who will look back, from such 
a period as a few hundred years hence, at the present 
state of our knowledge of nature, in any one depart¬ 
ment, will be surprised at its smallness; in fact, even 
now, when we work at all earnestly at any one part of 
the field of nature, we cannot refrain from feeling how 
little is our knowledge compared with our ignorance. 
But, if that is generally the case, I think it is peculiarly 
the case in those studies in which life is concerned ; and 
the phenomena of fermentation have that peculiarity 
that they consist of processes in which vital organisms 
* Aralu is the Sanskrit name of this tree according to 
Ainslie (vide ‘ Materia Indica,’ vol. ii. p. 302); but on this 
side of India that name is a synonym of “ Tetuf or Calo- 
santhes Indica (Bignoniacese), as appears from several Sanskrit 
compendiums of medicinal plants and drugs, viz.:—Chudd- 
mani, Dravyaratnakara, Bhivaprakas'a, etc. The properties 
and uses of Aralu there mentioned are applicable more to 
Calosanthes Indica (“Tetu”) than to the tree under con¬ 
sideration. 
[Aralu is also the vernacular name for Terminalia chebula. 
(Vide Moon’s Cat.)— Ed. Ph. J.] 
+ Ainslie’s c Materia Indica,’ vol. ii. p. 302. 
1 Wight’s Ill. Ind. Bot., p. 170. § Cantor Lectures. 
