344 
Varieties. 
{Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July  1, 1874. 
Poisoning  by  the  Root  of  Phytolacca  Decandra.—Dv.  Rawlings  Young,  of 
Corinth,  Miss.,  writes  that  he  was  called,  on  the  21st  inst.,  to  three  children- 
nine,  six  and  four  years  old— poisoned  by  eating  the  root  of  Phytolacca  decan- 
dra.  They  ate  this  at  11.30  A.  M .,  at  12  M.  took  a  hearty  dinner,  and  in  an 
hour  after  commenced  purging  and  vomiting.  At  4.30  P.  M.,  when  he  first 
saw  them,  the  purging  had  ceased,  but  free  vomiting  occurred  at  intervals  of 
twenty  or  thirty  minutes;  great  dilatation  of  pupils;  pulse  rapid  and  very 
feeble  ,  inspiration  short  and  sighing.  When  completely  aroused  from  their 
narcotism  they  complained  of  intense  epigastric  pain,  great  thirst  and  chilliness. 
The  treatment  consisted  of  hot  baths,  sinapisms,  small  doses  of  brandy  fre- 
quently repeated  ;  and  they  all  recovered,  though  continuing  to  vomit  until 
6  A.  M.  the  next  day  and  complaining  of  vertigo  and  epigastric  tenderness  for 
a  day  longer. — American  Practitioner*.  June,  1874. 
On  Gurjun  Oil  in  Skin  Diseases. — At  a  late  meeting  of  the  M  edical  Society 
of  London,  Professor  Erasmus  Wilson  showed  some  of  this  new  remedy,  and 
stated  that  this  material,  which  was  also  called  "  wood  oil,"  was  an  oleo- resin, 
obtained  from  several  species  of  the  Diptero carpus,  an  immense  tree  growing 
on  the  Malayan  coast  of  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  where  it  was  so  common  as  to  be 
used  instead  of  paint,  for  houses  and  ships.  About  twenty  years  ago  this  oil 
was  introduced  into  Kngland  as  a  substitute  for  copaiba  balsam,  and  was  re- 
ported to  have  the  same  medicinal  preperties.  Opinion  was,  however,  divided 
on  this  point,  and  the  gurjun  oil  did  not  succeed  in  securing  a  place  in  the 
Pharmacopoeia.  In  March,  1873,  Dr.  Dougall,  of  the  Indian  Medical  Service, 
took  charge  of  the  convict  establishment  of  the  Andaman  Islands,  when  he 
found  twenty-four  of  the  prisoners  suffering  from  leprosy.  He  was  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  misery  of  these  poor  people,  and  realizing  the  impracticability 
of  availing  himself  of  all  known  methods  of  treatment,  he  hit  upon  the  idea  of 
trying  the  gurjun  oil,  both  as  an  internal  and  external  remedy,  and  determined 
upon  giving  it  a  six  months'  trial.  He  closed  the  experiment  in  -November, 
by  a  report,  which  was  kindly  placed  in  Mr.  Wilson's  hands  by  Sir  Ranald 
Martin,  and  used  in  his  lectures  before  the  College  of  Surgeons.  Dr.  Dougall's 
method  was  to  have  the  patients  washed  thoroughly  in  a  neighboring  stream- 
using  dry  earth  instead  of  soap.  They  were  then  made  to  rub  themselves  for 
two  hours  with  a  liniment  composed  of  gurjun  oil  and  lime-water,  one  part  to 
three,  and  to  swallow  gij  of  the  balsam,  also  combined  with  lime-water.  After 
this  they  had  their  breakfast,  and  were  set  to  any  work  they  were  capable  of 
doing.  In  the  evening  the  same  process  was  repeated,  except  the  washing. 
The  effects  of  this  treatment,  at  the  end  of  six  months,  were  marvellous.  Neu- 
ralgic pains  were  allayed,  sensibility  was  restored  to  the  anaesthetic  skin,  tuber- 
cles subsided,  and  ulcers  healed.  Dr  Dougall  was  astonished  at  the  energy 
of  these  formerly  helpless  ones.  Mr.  Erasmus  Wilson  remarked  that  he  had 
used  a  liniment  composed  of  equal  parts  of  the  gurjun  oil  and  lime-water,  in 
cases-  of  painful  eczema,  in  lupus,  and  in  cancer,  with  very  encouraging  re- 
sults, and  stated  that  Mr.  Hancock  had  applied  it  in  a  case  of  cancer  of  the 
skin,  with  the  effect  of  dispersing  tubercles  and  healing  ulcerations  ;  but  its 
