Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Dec,  1884. 
Brazilian  Drugs. 
623 
are  used  as  a  remedy  against  the  bites  of  serpents.  The  seeds  are 
pounded  with  rum,  the  liquid  pressed  out  and  drunk,  and  the  expressed 
portion  applied  to  the  bitten  part. 
Fructo  de  Abutua  (Abuta  rufescens,  Aubl.).— The  root  is  a  consider- 
able article  of  export  as  Pareira  brava;  it  would  be  interesting  to 
know  for  what  purpose  it  is  used,  as  it  is  impossible  that  the  thousands 
of  kilos  exported  should  be  used  for  medicinal  purposes. 
'Fructo  de  Arradiabo  (Onidoscalus  neglectus,  Pohl.  Fuphorbiacece.) 
— In  Pernambuco  the  freshly  bruised  leaves  are  used  as  a  poultice 
for  carbuncle.  The  leaves  and  husk  of  the  fruit  are  furnished  with 
glandular  hairs  which  sting  most  virulently,  causing  blisters  where 
they  touch  the  skin  and  giving  rise  to  fever.  The  seeds  contain  31*5 
per  cent,  of  a  purgative  oil. 
Fructus  de  Barbatimao  (Stryphnodendron  polyphyttum,  Mart.  Legum- 
inosce). — The  pods  contain  soft  sweet  pulp,  with  a  styptic  after-taste, 
and  are  used  for  hemoptyses.  The  fresh  pods  were  found  by  Dr.  T. 
Peckolt  to  contain  7*9  per  cent.,  and  the  dried  pods  17*584  per  cent, 
of  tannin,  which  gives  a  black  precipitate  with  ferric  salts. 
Fructos  de  ahnecega  (Protium  heptaphyllum  ft  brasiliense,  Engl. 
Burseracece). 
Fructos  de  Buchuiha  (Luffa  operculata,  Cogn.  Cucurbitacem). — The 
fruits  are  as  drastic  in  their  action  as  colocynth,  and  are  used  in  dropsy  j 
amenorrhcea,  liver  complaints,  and  tropical  anaemia  (opilacao).  For 
dropsy,  a  fruit  is  boiled  for  some  time,  strained  and  beaten  until  cold, 
into  a  froth  like  white  of  egg,  and  a  tablespoonful  given  every  half- 
hour  until  vomiting  or  purging  take  place.  In  the  northern  |)rovinces 
of  Brazil  it  is  used  indiscriminately  by  the  common  people  in  all 
diseases,  and,  consequently,  is  sometimes  used  with  bad  results.  For 
general  use  a  bottle  is  half  filled  with  the  sliced  fibrous  part  of  the 
fruit,  the  bottle  filled  with  rum  and  allowed  to  stand  a  day  in  the  sun. 
In  any  indisposition  a  small  dram  glassful  is  taken,  which  usually  pro- 
duces six  to  eight  evacuations. 
Fructos  de  Copaiba,  (Copaifera  nitida,  Mart.). — The  pods  are  used 
only  by  herbalist  in  the  treatment  of  gonorrhoea,  but  with  success. 
It  is  noteworthy  that  the  pods  contain  19*568  per  cent,  of  a  soft  resin, 
having  the  odor  of  balsam  of  copaiba,  and  that  the  odor  of  copaiba 
is  found  only  in  the  wood,  bark,  and  pods  of  the  tree,  the  black  seeds 
containing  3*558  per  cent,  of  a  fat  oil,  having  the  odor  of  tonka 
