162 
PENGHAWAR  DJAMBI,  A  NEW  STYPTIC. 
plant  of  Cibotium  Barometz  J.  Sm.,  I  must  confess  I  find  them 
far  more  to  resemble  each  other  than  they  do  the  Sumatran 
Penghawar.  It  must,  however,  be  borne  in  mind  that  a  plant 
having  a  range  so  extensive  as  to  embrace  Assam,  China,  the 
Philippines  and  the  Islands  of  the  Indian  Archipelago,  may  be 
expected  to  vary  considerably  according  to  the  soil,  the  situa- 
tion, and  the  degree  of  moisture  and  heat  in  which  it  may  grow, 
so  that  I  am  far  from  impugning  the  correctness  of  referring  both 
productions  to  one  and  the  same  plant. 
Before  dismissing  Penghawar  Djambi,  we  must,  however,  con- 
sider its  reputed  medicinal  and  surgical  uses.  As  a  styptic,  the 
hair  of  the  stypes  may  be  employed  in  the  same  manner  as  cot- 
ton wool,  tow,  or  the  nap  of  a  beaver  hat.  According  to  Dr.  J. 
M.  Van  Bemmelen,  who  has  elaborately  investigated  the  chemis- 
try of  the  drug,*  the  styptic  action  of  these  hairs  is  solely 
mechanical.  Practitioners  have  tried  the  effect  of  an  aqueous 
decoction  of  the  hairs  or  of  the  stem,  as  a  remedy  for  internal 
haemorrhage,  and  some  have  reported  favorably  of  it.f  The  ex- 
periments of  Dr.  V an  Bemmelen  leave  little  ground  for  placing 
any  reliance  on  the  reputed  good  effects  of  the  drug  so  applied ; 
and  I  fully  concur  in  that  writer's  conclusions,  as  expressed  in 
terms  which  I  translate  thus : — 
"  I  therefore  believe  myself  justified  in  the  opinion  that  it  is 
highly  improbable  that  that  which  water  extracts  from  this  plant 
is  an  active  remedy  for  internal  haemorrhages.  There  appears 
to  me  no  grounds  whatever,  either  from  a  chemical  or  physio- 
logical point  of  view,  for  presuming  that  we  may  expect  any  good 
result  in  practice  from  the  employment  of  such  a  preparation." 
— Pharm.  Jour.,  Nov.  1856. 
*  Chemische  Untersuchung  des  Penghawar  Djambi  in  Vierteljahres- 
schrift  fur  prakt  Pharmacie  V.  bd.,  3  heft  (1856). 
■f  Since  the  above  was  in  type,  I  have  heard  from  my  friend,  Dr.  J.  E. 
De  Vrj,  of  Rotterdam,  that  the  late  Dr.  Molkenboer,  a  talented  Dutch 
physician,  was  firmly  of  the  opinion  that  a  decoction  of  Penghawar 
Djambi  was  beneficial  in  internal  haemorrhage. 
