Medico- Botanical Notices. 
281 
of a species of santalum, of which it possesses none of the 
qualities, being solely employed for its tinctorial properties. 
Some commentators on the Bible have supposed, and with 
an appearance of probability, that the true sandal wood is the 
Algum of the Scriptures, used in the construction of Solomon's 
temple, (Hooker, Bot. Mag. 3235.) 
In commerce it is often divided into red, yellow and white, 
according to the shade of colour, of which the first, which 
however, is never as dark as the red saunders, is the most 
valuable; the best pieces and those most highly prized as pos- 
sessing the strongest smell, are from near the root. 
Sandal wood owes its peculiar smell to the presence of a 
volatile oil, which is heavier than water, and readily concretes 
at a low temperature. It was formerly much employed in 
medicine, but has fallen into disuse, though it still enters into 
some preparations of the foreign Pharmacopoeias, as compound 
syrup of rhubarb, &c. 
Heracleum lanatum. — This umbelliferous plant, which at- 
tains a very large size in favourable situations, and is to be 
found in most parts of the United States, is considered by 
Sprengel as identical with the foreign H. panaces, a native 
of Siberia ; Nuttall also states that it is scarcely distinct from 
the H. spondylium. Both of these have been employed for 
remedial purposes, but more especially the last, principally 
however as external applications to indolent tumours. The 
H. lanatum deserves the attention of the medical profession 
in an eminent degree. Dr. Orne, of Salem, in 1803, in a com- 
munication to the Massachusetts Medical Society, spoke of 
it in the highest terms as a remedy in epilepsy, and stated that 
three out of five cases of this disease in which he administer- 
ed it were cured. At the same time it is evident, from his 
own admissions, that in all these the disease was not depend- 
ant on a primary affection of the brain, but that the epileptic 
symptoms were connected with a disordered condition of the 
digestive organs. He gave it in large doses both in substance 
and infusion. Its good effects as a stomachic and carmina- 
tive are amply confirmed by other practitioners, especially in 
Vol. I— N. 4. 36 
