550         ENGLISH  MEDICINAL  RHUBARB  AND  HENBANE. 
CONCLUSIONS. 
1.  True  Burgundy  pitch  is  the  melted  and  strained  resin  of 
Abies  excelsa,  D.  C. 
2.  An  artificial  compound  is  usually  sold  in  lieu  of  it,  both  in 
this  country  and  on  the  Continent. 
3.  True  Burgundy  pitch  is  produced  on  a  large  scale  in  Fin- 
land, also  of  very  fine  quality  in  Baden  and  in  Austria. 
4.  True  Burgundy  pitch  differs  palpably  from  the  artificial, 
and  may  be  easily  distinguished  from  it. — London  Chemist  and 
Druggist,  Sept.  14,  1867. 
ENGLISH  MEDICINAL  RHUBABB  AND  HENBANE. 
By  Rufus  Usher,  Esq. 
Although  the  introduction  of  medicinal  rhubarb  into  England 
is  dated  by  Parkinson  as  far  back  as  1629,  no  real  experiments 
of  its  culture  and  preparation  for  medical  use  appear  to  have  been 
made  till  1762,  when  a  quantity  of  seed  was  sent  from  Russia, 
by  Dr.  Mounsey,  from  which  period  till  about  1800  it  was  suc- 
cessfully grown  in  small  quantities  by  many  scientific  men,  after 
which  it  was  cultivated  at  Banbury  on  an  increasing  scale,  and 
is  now  known  in  the  commercial  world  as  a  general  article  of 
trade  ;  and  not  only  is  it  consumed  in  considerable  quantities  in 
this  country,  but  it  is  exported  largely  to  various  parts  of  the 
civilized  world.  The  origin  of  the  plantations  of  rhubarb  in  my 
possession,  and  now  extending  over  forty  acres,  will  be  best 
traced  by  the  following  extracts  from  the  "  Transactions  of  the 
Society  of  Arts."  In  1789 : — "  The  Society,  in  consideration  of 
his  merit,  and  to  promote  as  much  as  in  them  lies  the  growth 
and  cultivation  of  so  valuable  a  drug,  voted  their  silver  medal  to 
Mr.  Hayward,  as  a  bounty."  In  1794: — "  The  following  ac- 
counts and  certificates  respecting  the  growth  and  cure  of  rhu- 
barb having  been  received,  the  gold  medal,  being  the  premium 
offered  for  cultivating  the  greatest  number  of  plants,  was  ad- 
judged to  Mr.  William  Hayward,  of  Banbury."  The  following 
is  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Pereira : — "  In  1789  Dr.  Hayward  ob- 
tained a  silver  medal,  and  in  1794  a  gold  medal,  from  the  Soci- 
ety of  Arts,  for  the  cultivation  of  English  rhubarb.    Dr.  Hay- 
