140 MEDICAL PROPERTIES OF THE CASHEW-NUT TREE. 
what is commonly called dry rot, and when mixed with 
tar, would, in all likelihood, be found useful for covering 
the bottoms of ships. As an escharotic, it forms, when care- 
full applied, a good remedy for the removal of callosities, 
such as warts and corns ; and as a stimulant application, 
may be employed to restore a healthy action in cases of 
herpes, ill conditioned ulcers, &c, being first diluted to the 
proper degree with some mild oil. Similarly diluted, but 
to a still greater extent, it becomes a safe and certain cos- 
metic, by exciting an inflammatory action, which produces 
desquamation of the cuticle. Two young women of colour 
in Nevis, anxious to improve their complexion, employed 
this oil without due caution, and excited a degree of inflam- 
mation so violent, as to cause intense suffering, and endan- 
ger their lives ; by careful and judicious treatment how- 
ever, the inflammatory action was conducted, at the end of 
about five or six weeks, to a happy termination, and the 
vanity of the young ladies amply gratified by the brilliancy, 
clearness, and beauty of their new complexion. Whether 
they had occasion, or felt an inclination to repeat the ex- 
periment, I was not fortunate enough to learn. 5. The 
spirituous liquor which may be obtained by distillation from 
the fruit, and which, according to Dr. Barham, possesses 
the same diuretic properties as the best Hollands; and 6. 
The wine prepared from the fermented juice expressed from 
the fruit, and which, if improved by the addition of a due 
proportion of the extract of the roots, either of the Krame- 
ria triandra, which is found on the Spanish main, or the 
Krameria ixina (which I found near the ridge of Guinea 
Corn Hill, to the east of the ponds of Basseterre, and may 
exist in other parts of the island which I had not an oppor- 
tunity of examining,) and kept in bottle for some years, 
would equal in flavour the best port of Oporto, and not im- 
probably combine, with the tonic and astringent properties 
of the Portuguese wine— properties to be chiefly ascribed 
to the krameria extract, or - wine colouring,"' added to 
