56 
Taxus  Baceata, 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
X      Feb.,  1881. 
as  rusei.  There  does  not  appear  to  be  any  authoritative  formula  for 
either  preparation  ;  for,  wliile  one  correspondent  informs  us  that  they 
are  usually  made  by  mixing  one  part  of  birch  tar  with  three  or  four 
p)arts  of  alcohol  J  or  the  pomade  with  three  or  four  parts  of  soft  paraf- 
fin, another  correspondent  send  us  the  folloAving  formula  for  the 
tincture : 
R    Oleirusci,        .  .  .  .  .  lO'O 
Alcoliolis,  .... 
^theris,         .  .  .  .         aa  15'0 
Olei  lavaii dulse,  .... 
"  rosmarini, 
"  rutse,  .  .  .  .  aa  0*4 
Mix  and  filter. 
This  is  Hager's  formula  for  the  external  use  of  birch  tar  in  rheu- 
matism and  gout,  except  that  Hager  orders  0*5  gram  of  each  of  the 
volatile  oils. 
Hager,  in  "  Pharm.  Praxis,"  gives,  also,  the  following  for  Essentia 
Rusci: 
R    Olei  rusci,      .....  lO'O 
Alcoholis,  .  .  .  .  100-0 
Mix,  and,  after  decaiitation,  filter. 
Birch  tar  has  also  been  used  in  menorrhoea,  piles,  cancer,  venereal 
ulcers,  as  an  anthelmintic,  and  in  intermittent  fever,  in  doses  of  from  6 
to  10  grains  three  times  daily,  usually  in  the  form  of  pills.  At  present 
it  seems  to  be  mainly  employed  in  skin  diseases,  and  the  pomade 
referred  to  above  is  often  sold  in  New  York  as  Hebra^s  tar  pomade. 
Taxus  baceata. — D.  Amato  and  A.  Capparelli  have  isolated  from 
the  green  needle-shaped  leaves  of  the  yew  an  alkaloid,  which  is  color- 
less, crystalline,  of  a  musty  odor  and  produces  dense  white  fumes  with 
the  vapors  of  hydrochloric  acid.  It  is  sparingly  soluble  in  water, 
freely  soluble  in  alcohol  and  ether,  and  yields  precipitates  with  several 
reagents  for  alkaloids,  those  with  solution  of  iodine  in  potassium 
iodide  and  with  tannin  becoming  crystalline  (/^Gaz.  Ital.,"  x,  p.  349). 
Similar  results  were  obtained  by  Marine,  see  ^^Amer.  Jour.  Pharm.," 
1876,  p.  353. 
Amato  and  Cap^iarelli  obtained  also  a  volatile  oil  resembling  that 
of  wild  fennel  in  odor,  and  a  colorless  non-nitrogenous  principle,  crys- 
tallizing in  stellate  needles,  which  are  sparingly  soluble  in  cold,  but 
freely  so  in  hot  alcohol. 
