AmAug.?S?rm-}  Rubber  in  Sierra  Leone.  389 
ing  oedema ;  it  retards  the  heart-beats,  and  increases  the  blood 
pressure,  and  while  it  is  inferior  to  digitalis  or  caffeine,  it  has 
undoubted  diuretic  properties,  the  secondary  effects,  however,  such 
as  headache,  a  buzzing  in  the  ears,  somnolence  (in  patients  of 
advanced  age)  or  insomnia  being  less  pronounced,  than  after  the 
administration  of  caffeine.  The  author  prescribes  it  in  daily  doses 
of  3-4-5  gm.,  preferring  it  in  the  form  of  a  solution,  the  powder 
becoming  insoluble,  by  reason  of  the  precipitation  of  theobromine 
caused  by  its  combination  with  the  carbonic  acid  of  the  atmosphere. 
Creosote  is  rendered  soluble  in  water  by  the  following  formula : 
Creosote,  10  gm.;  tincture  of  Quillaia  saponaria,  80  gm. ;  distilled 
water  60  gm.  A  tablespoonful  of  this  liquid  contains  one  gm.  of 
creosote,  which  is  in  actual  solution,  and  not  merely  in  suspension, 
— M.  P.  Carles,  in  Rep.  de  Pharm.,  May,  1893,  p.  199. 
Carbolic  acid  has  been  used  with  good  results  by  M.  A.  Strisover 
[Med.  Obozr.,  jg,  1893,  through  Nouv.  Rem.,  June,  1893,  p.  264),  in 
the  treatment  of  several  cases  of  rectitis  which  would  not  yield  to 
any  other  measures.  The  remedy  was  prescribed  twice  daily  as  a 
wash,  prepared  by  adding  ten  drops  of  the  acid  to  two  glassfuls  of 
water,  as  hot  as  it  could  be  borne,  each  washing  being  continued 
from  6  to  10  minutes. 
Citrate  of  caffeine,  for  hypodermic  injection  is  used  by  Soucheyre 
(Gaz.  des  Hopitaux  de  Toulouse,  April,  1893)  m  the  following  solu- 
tion: Citrate  of  caffeine,  2-50  gm.;  sodium  benzoate,  2-50  gm.,  and 
distilled  water,  10  gm. 
RUBBER  IN  SIERRA  LEONE. 
By  G.  F.  Scott  Elliot. 
The  rubber  exported  from  West  Africa  is  of  two  kinds.  One  is 
derived  from  the  so-called  rubber  vines,  which  appear  to  be  all 
species  of  Landolphia  or  Carpodinus ;  the  other  is  derived  from  a 
tree,  Ficus  Vogelii,  and  possibly  also  from  other  species  of  fig.  The 
most  important  kinds  in  the  district  through  which  we  passed, 
"  Oro,"  "  Djenge,"  "  Eure,"  and  "  Genye  "  (all  rubber  vines),  were 
found  in  old  forest,  and  the  amount  existing  at  present  cannot  be 
large.  The  natives  have  long  since  cleared  the  land  of  the  original 
primeval  forest  in  all  the  parts  below  1,000  feet,  and  the  country  is 
either  under  cultivation  for  cassada  or  is  covered  by  grass  or  bush 
