Am.  Jour^  Pliarni.  \ 
July,  1881.  i 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
337 
yield  with  water  a  bitter  extract,  dissolving  in  ammonia  with  a  beau- 
tiful Malaga-brown  color.  Alcohol  now  extracts  wax,  chlorophyll 
and  resins,  two  of  which  are  soluble  in  ether,  one  being  soft  and  acrid^ 
the  other  hard  and  in  microscopic  turmeric-yellow  scales.  Digested 
with  potassa,  a  volatile  alkaloid  is  given  off,  probably  trimethylamina. 
In  Oriental  countries,  henna  is  used  for  ulcers  and  against  all  pos- 
sible diseases.  Its  principal  use  is  as  a  dye.  Mixed  Avith  water,  or 
perhaps  with  a  little  alkali,  it  is  used  for  coloring  orange-red  the 
finger  nails,  the  soles  of  the  feet,  the  palms  of  the  hands,  also  the 
points  of  the  beard  and  the  hair ;  for  dyeing  the  hair  black,  the 
henna  is  used  in  combination  with  indigo. — Zeitsch.  Oest.  Apoth.  Ver.; 
Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  April  16,  pp.  855-857. 
Commercial  Patchoidi  leaves  have  been  examined  by  Dr.  Henry 
Paschkis  and  compared  with  leaves  of  Pogostemon  Patchouli  from 
the  Vienna  Botanical  Gardens.  True  patchouly  leaves  are  from  6  to 
10  centimeters  (2  to  4  inches)  long,  ovate  or  rhombic  ovate,  narrowed 
at  the  entire  base  into  a  long  petiole,  above  with  an  irregularly  doubly 
crenate  margin,  light  bro^vn,  moderately  thin,  not  very  abundantly 
hairy  on  both  sides,  with  one  principal  nerve  and  the  secondary 
nerves  forming  curves  running  towards  the  margin.  The  microscopic 
examination  reveals  in  the  epidermis  of  the  upper  and  under  side 
deeply  indented,  mostly  elongated  flat  cells ;  among  them,  in  greater 
number  below  and  fewer  above,  are  stomata  with  a  single  contigu- 
ous cell.  The  epidermal  cells  of  the  upper  side  are  coarsely  papillose, 
here  and  there  brownish-colored.  The  hairs  are  simple  throughout^ 
several-celled  (up  to  6),  with  a  warty  cuticle,  especially  in  the  younger 
hairs  On  both  sides  of  the  leaf  are  numerous  glands,  the  smaller 
ones  being  stalked,  the  larger  ones  stalkless  and  deeply  imbedded  in 
the  epidermis. 
The  commercial  leaves  were  found  to  be  mixed  with  other  leaves^ 
of  which  the  following  are  described  : 
1.  Roundish,  nearly  transversely  oval,  5-fid,  dentate,  10  cm.  broad,. 
8  cm.  long,  with  radiate  venation  and  cordate  base ;  dark  brown 
above,  gray-green  beneath ;  moderately  hairy  on  both  sides,  more  so 
on  the  under  side ;  rather  thin ;  in  the  mesophyll  mucilage  cells ;  on 
both  sides  small  club-sha^ied  cells ;  the  hairs  one-celled  and  clustered 
in  bundles  of  6  to  8. 
2.  Rhomboid,  obtuse,  coarsely  dentate,  5  cm.  long,  2'5  cm.  broad^ 
three-nerved,  abundantly  hairy  on  both  sides,  thick,  brownish-gray. 
22 
