June 8, 1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
985 
THE ECONOMIC AND MEDICINAL VALUE 
OF THE GENUS RHUS. 
BY JOHN B. JACKSON, A.L.S., MUSEUM, KEW. 
Some attention has recently been directed in Natal 
towards the cultivation of various species of Rhus 
yielding sumac as a prospect of establishing a new 
industry in the colony. As an article for the dyers’ 
and tanners’ use, sumac ranks very high. In North 
America the berries as well as the bark of Rhus 
glabra are extensively used by the country people in 
the preparation of a brilliant black dye. The berries 
are likewise used in medicine as a refrigerant and 
febrifuge. In Porclier’s ‘ Resources of the Southern 
Fields and Forests,’ we read, on the authority of Dr. 
Fahnestock, that an infusion of the inner bark of 
the root is employed as a gargle, and is considered 
almost as a specific in the sore throat attending 
mercurial salivation. An infusion of the leaves, 
sweetened with honey, is serviceable, applied in the 
same way, and for cleansing the mouth in putrid 
fevers. From another North American species (R. 
copallina, L.) a wash is made, which is used in the 
cure of ringworm. The berries are acid, and a 
cooling drink is made from them. The leaves are 
said to be used for adulterating tobacco. Several 
other species of Rhus grow in North America, some 
of which are introduced plants, but are valued on 
account of their chemical properties. The most 
interesting, however, are the extremely poisonous 
species, R. venenata, Dec., and R. toxicodendron, L. 
The accounts which have at different times been 
given of poisoning by these plants almost equal 
those of the upas. The following, however, as given 
b } 7 Dr. Bromfield, may be relied upon :—“ The Rev. 
Dr. Bachman, of Charleston, being once on a 
botanical excursion with some friends in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of that city, they came upon a specimen 
of the poison ash ( Rhus venenata, Dec.), and felt 
desirous of gathering specimens for examination. 
Tins they proceeded to do, though warned of the 
consequences likely to accrue from handling it. The 
doctor stood aloof from a danger which he knew to 
be inevitable in his own person on near approach or 
contact. The result was, some of the party suffered 
severely; the inflammatory action reaching up the 
arms to the trunk in one, in another only as high as 
the elbows, whilst in a third the effects were confined 
to the hands, which, as is usual in these cases, be¬ 
came swollen, inflamed and finally ulcerated. The 
rest mostly escaped the poison. On his return home, 
Dr. B. found a branch of the shrub in his vasculum, 
which had been put there by some sceptical joker 
amongst certain of the party, who affected disbelief 
in the poisonous properties of the plant. This he 
requested Ills daughter, who was not susceptible of 
the poison, to take out of the box and destroy; but, 
at her suggestion, permitted it to be dried for his 
herbarium. The next day symptoms of poiso nin g 
came on; intumescence of the entire body and 
lower extremities, attended with intolerable pain 
and irritation, confined him to bed for several days; 
nor was it till after many weeks that he was able to 
resume his duties. For several years after he was 
subject to a periodical recurrence of the erysipe¬ 
latous inflammation which marks this particular 
poison.” Other instances of poisoning by this 
plant have also been recorded; one in which some 
persons were seriously affected by the fumes arising 
Thikd Sekies, No. 102. 
from the wood while burning, the other in which a 
swarm of bees was poisoned simply by alighting 
on one of the trees. 
Though none of the species of Rhus find a place 
amongst medicinal plants in use in this country,— 
except, perhaps, as homoeopathic medicines,—seve¬ 
ral of them are so used in the States of America. 
The most important species, in a commercial point 
of view, are R. coriciria, L., and R. cotinus, L. 
Both of these are natives of Southern Europe, and 
furnish the well-known article known as sumac, 
which is the broken and powdered leaves and twigs, 
and is much used in tanning light-coloured leathers* 
In South Africa several species of Rhus are 
known. At the Cape the bark and twigs of R. 
tomentosa, L., and R. lacida, L., are used for tanning 
purposes; and it is with the idea of increasing the 
value of the indigenous plants of the colony, as well 
as furthering the introduction of others, that the 
subject of sumac cultivation has engaged the atten¬ 
tion of the colonists of Natal. 
SULPHOVINATE OF SODA: 
ITS PREPARATION AND PURGATIVE 
PROPERTIES. 
BY M. LIMOUSIN, PHABMACIEN* 
In the year 1870, the purgative properties and the 
advantages x>resented by the sulpliovinate of soda 
over the other saline purgatives usually employed 
in therapeutics were pointed out by Dr. Rabuteau, 
in a memoir communicated to the Academy of 
Medicine. At the request of Dr. Blache, who de¬ 
sired to verify the assertions made in tins communi¬ 
cation, the author undertook to prepare some of the 
salt; and on the 21st of July in the same year he 
presented to the Academy of Medicine a specimen 
obtained by following pretty nearly the process in¬ 
dicated in most works on chemistry. This sulpho- 
vinate was very pure and well crystallized, but its 
high price (45 to 50 fr. the kilogram) was a serious 
obstacle to its introduction into therapeutics. 
After several attempts, M. Limousin succeeded in 
obtaining the salt by a much more economical pro¬ 
cess, the description of which is the object of the 
present paper :—A kilogram of pure sulphuric acid, 
sp. gr. L715, and a kilogram of concentrated alcohol, 
about 96°, are introduced by means of two funnels (one 
for the alcohol and the other for the acid) into a third 
f unn el arranged in a flask plunged into a freezing 
mixture or kept in a current of cold water, the flow 
of the two liquids into the flask being so regulated 
as to keep the alcohol in excess. The mixture is 
kept for four or five days at a temperature of 20° C. 
to 25° C., then diluted with five or six litres of dis¬ 
tilled water, and saturated with about 1500 grams 
of pure carbonate of baryta diluted with a suffi¬ 
ciency of distilled water. When the point of satura- 
ration is attained, the liquid is left to deposit the 
sulphate of baryta, and afterwards filtered. The solu¬ 
tion of sulpliovinate of baryta so obtained is satu¬ 
rated by 850 to 900 grams of pure carbonate of soda 
dissolved in four litres of distilled water. When no 
more precipitate is formed by the addition of the 
alkaline solution, and the liquid is neutral to test 
* Abstracted from a paper read before the Society de 
Pharmacie de Paris, March 6, 1872 (Journ. do Pharm. et da 
Chimio [4], vol. xv. p. 271). 
