266  Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica.  {AmMay**imarm' 
Rubus  Chamwmorus,  Lin.,  known  as  cloudberry,  is  indigenous  to 
Canada  and  the  White  Mountains,  to  Northern  Asia  and  Northern 
Europe.  The  amber-colored  fruit  is  of  a  pleasant  acidulous  taste. 
The  pubescent  and  wrinkled  leaves  are  about  1J  inch  long  and  2 
inches  broad,  reniform  in  shape,  roundish  five-lobed  and  crenately 
dentate,  have  an  unpleasant  sweet,  afterwards  bitter  taste,  and  are  pop- 
ularly used  in  Siberia  in  various  urinary  complaints.  Eecently 
(Russk.  Med.,  1886)  the  leaves  have  been  recommended  by  Dr.  Ivan 
Troitzky,  of  Smolensk,  as  an  excellent  diuretic  in  dropsies,  in  the  form 
of  infusion  prepared  from  a  drachm  of  the  bruised  leaves  by  digestion 
with  a  cupful  of  boiling  water ;  this  quantity  is  taken  morning  and 
evening  for  about  a  month ;  the  taste  is  stated  to  be  not  very  unpleas- 
ant, and  the  patient  to  become  habituated  to  this  tea. 
Cassia  alata,  Lin. — The  leaves  are  recommended  by  Conillebault 
(These,  Paris,  1886)  for  giving  prompt  relief  in  ringworm  *  they  are 
moistened  with  water  and  the  affected  parts  are  then  rubbed :  or,  an 
acetic  extract  of  the  leaves  may  be  used. 
In  India  the  plant  is  regarded  as  &  cure  for  poisonous  bites  and  for 
venereal  eruptions,  and  the  leaves  have  long  been  used  for  curing 
ringworm.  Lindley  describes  the  leaves  as  being  2  feet  long,  abruptly 
pinnate.  Leaflets  opposite,  from  8  to  14  pairs,  the  exterior  largest, 
linear-oblong,  obtuse  or  emarginate,  with  a  point,  smooth,  entire, 
veined;  3  to  6  inches  long,  2  to  2 J  inches  broad;  the  lower  pair 
somewhat  distant,  nearly  round  and  reflexed  back  on  the  stem  or 
branches.  Petioles  channelled,  the  channel  large  and  formed  by  two 
thin  firm  yellow  borders.  There  is  a  cross-bar  between  each  pair  of 
leaflets,  covered  with  small  dark-colored  bristles,  and  there  is  no  other 
gland.  Stipules  auriculate,  rigid,  pointed,  persistent,  appearing  like 
prickles. 
The  plant  is  shrubby  like  Cassia  Sophora,  Lin.,  the  leaves  of  which 
are  similarly  employed.  Cassia  Tora,  Lin.,  an  annual  of  Southern 
Asia,  is  reputed  to  have  similar  antiherpetic  properties;  likewise 
Cassia  occidentallis,  Lin.,  which  is  common  throughout  the  tropics, 
has  been  naturalized  in  the  Southern  United  States  as  far  north  as 
Virginia,  and  is  known  in  some  localities  as  styptic  weed. 
Physostigma. — In  a  paper  read  before  the  Chemists'  Assistants 
Association,  P.  Macewan  stated  (Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  Feb.  5,  1887, 
p.  641),  that  the  cylindric  seed  noticed  by  Mr.  Holmes  among  com- 
mercial calabar  bean  in  1879,  does  not  appear  to  have  occurred  in  the 
