^FeH;  ml™  }  Pharmacognostical  and  Chemical  Notes.  51 
rupted  tangential  rows.  The  inner  surface  of  the  bark  is  of  a 
blackish-brown  color,  very  coarsely  striated  from  the-  rather  distant 
bast  fibres,  and  often  with  patches  of  a  soft  wood  closely  adhering, 
which  in  some  specimens  has  an  almost  copper-green  tint.  The  bark 
breaks  readily  with  a  short  but  very  distinct  fibrous  fracture,  while 
the  corky  layer  breaks  much  smoother,  the  bast  fibres  enclosed  by  it 
not  protruding  from  the  fracture  to  the  same  extent  as  those  of  the 
inner  bark.  The  taste  is  purely  bitter  and  devoid  of  aromatic 
properties. 
It  will  be  observed  that  this  false  Angustura  bark  differs  very  mate- 
rially from  both  the  true  angustura  and  the  strychnos  bark.  The 
former  one  of  these  two  barks  occurs  in  curved  pieces,  with  a  pale 
almost  ochre  colored  cork,  which  is  very  friable  and  marked  with 
suberous  warts  or  by  mainly  longitudinal  furrows.  The  inner  surface 
is  of  a  light  brown-yellow,  rather  granular,  not  striate.  The  bark  is 
very  fragile  and  shows  a  smooth  fracture  in  which  are  numerous  white 
shining  striae  of  crystals. 
The  latter  (strychnos  bark)  is  covered  with  a  warty  light  greyish 
or  yellowish  friable  cork,  with  frequently  very  large  orange-red 
patches  ;  fracture  nearly  smooth,  dark  brown,  divided  by  a  lighter 
colored  line  into  two  layers  ;  crystalline  striae  absent ;  inner  surface 
even,  gray-brown  to  blackish-brown,  finely  striate. 
I  have  no  means  of  ascertaining  the  origin  of  the  false  angustura 
bark,  described  above  ;  it  most  likely  reached  Philadelphia  from  New 
York. 
Trompatilla,  a  Remedy  for  Hydrophobia. — Under  this  name  was 
handed  to  me,  by  a  friend,  a  sample  of  a  drug  which  had  been  received 
by  him  from  a  friend  residing  in  Mexico,  where  the  article  is  said  to  be 
successfully  used  for  the  prevention  and  treatment  of  hydrophobia,  for 
which  complaint  it  is  freely  given  in  the  form  of  decoction.  It  is 
stated  to  be  obtained  from  Bouvardia  triphylla  and  consists  of  short 
segments  of  the  stem  and  branches,  varying  from  one-fourth  to  three- 
fourths  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  terete  and  slightly  bent.  The  bark 
is  thin,  fragile,  brown  and  separates  in  a  few  pieces  very  readily  from 
the  wood,  but  adheres  firmly  to  it  in  the  largest  number.  The  bark 
is  covered  with  a  comparatively  thick  layer  of  soft  friable  cork, 
which  is  rust-brown  within,  externally  grey  to  blackish-brown  and 
marked  with  numerous  shallow  longitudinal  fissures.  The  wood  is 
rather  hard,  but  splits  easily  and  straight  in  the  direction  of  the  axis  ; 
