AMseJPTi,  iS£"  }     77/6  Date  Tree  and  its  Products.  405 
diarrhoea.  The  leaves  smell  like  anise,  and  are  used  in  native  medi- 
cines as  a  stomachic  and  carminative.  A  decoction  of  the  unripe 
fruit  is  said  to  act  as  a  powerful  astringent,  and  the  ripe  fruit  as  an 
antiscorbutic.  A  gummy  substance  flows  from  the  stem  when  wounded, 
which  is  used  by  painters  for  mixing  with  colors,  also  in  dyeing  and 
for  making  ink  and  varnish,  as  well  as  by  bricklayers  in  preparing  a 
fine  kind  of  whitewash.  This  gum  occurs  in  irregular,  reddish-brown, 
semi-transparent  tears;  powdered  and  mixed  with  honey,  it  is  used 
in  dysentery  and  diarrhoea.  The  Bael  fruit  (JEgle  Marmelos,  Corr.) 
has  been  brought  into  notice  in  this  country  recently ;  it  is  imported 
in  slices,  dried,  or  in  quarters  or  pieces  with  the  rind  still  attached. 
The  entire  fruit  is  round,  somewhat  resembling  a  large  orange.  It 
is  officinal  in  both  the  British  and  Indian  Pharmacopoeias,  and  is  used 
in  India  "  in  atonic  diarrhoea  and  dysentery  ;  and  in  the  advanced 
stages  of  those  diseases,  in  irregularity  of  the  bowels,  and  in  habitual 
constipation,  it  is  a  remedy  of  much  value."  It  is  administered  in 
the  forms  of  a  mixture  and  an  extract  ;  those  prepared  from  the  dried 
fruit,  as  seen  in  this  country,  are  said  to  possess  much  less  medicinal 
power  than  those  prepared  in  India  from  fresh  fruit.  It  will  be  need- 
less to  recapitulate  all  that  has  been  said  and  written  on  the  medici- 
nal value  of  this  fruit,  as  they  will  be  fresh  in  the  minds  of  the  readers 
of  the  Journal,  many  of  whom  have  likewise  probably  tested  the  arti- 
cle itself. 
In  concluding  these  notes  it  only  remains  to  mention  two  or  three 
plants,  the  properties  of  which  are  little  known,  but  which  are  never- 
theless reputed  to  be  useful  in  their  native  countries  ;  thus,  for  in- 
stance, Hortia  brasiliana,  Vand.,  is  said  to  possess  febrifugal  proper- 
ties and  to  be  used  in  Brazil.  The  leaves  and  shoots  of  Ptelea  trifo- 
liata,  L.,  a  North  American  shrub,  are  used  in  infusion  as  an  anthel- 
mintic, and  the  aromatic  fruits  are  said  to  be  a  good  substitute  for 
hops.  Casimiroa  edulis,  a  tree  of  Mexico,  has  a  bitter  bark,  which, 
together  with  the  leaves  and  seeds,  are  used  as  a  medicine  when  burnt 
and  reduced  to  a  powder. — Pharm.  Journ.  and  Trans.,  May  31,  1873. 
THE  DATE  TREE  AND  ITS  PRODUCTS. 
By  Gastinel  Bey. 
The  date  has  been  known  from  the  farthest  antiquity.  It  flourishes 
in  all  the  vast  regions  of  the  Tropic  of  Cancer  from  the  Atlantic 
