S06 STILLINGIA SYLVATICA. 
it exerts an influence upon the lymphatic vessels which 
mercury cannot equal, and is therefore an important medi- 
cine in its diseases. 
Sensible Properties, 
If we open a drawer in which the recent root has been 
kept a short time, we are sensible of an odour, extremely 
strong and acrimonious, and rather of a disagreeable char- 
acter. 
The taste of this root is also pungent, and leaves on the 
root of the tongue and fauces an impression biting and irri- 
tating, exciting a flow of saliva. 
The juice of the root, applied to the surface, and rubbed 
upon it, occasions smarting and irritation. If we remain in 
a close room where the root is being boiled, and the vapour 
passes into the room, a sense of sickness at the stomach is 
excited, with a disposition to discharge saliva, with head- 
ache and other unpleasant symptoms- From this circum- 
stance, I infer that the active matter is of a vola»tile nature, 
and it is proved, by the roots losing much of their weight 
and activity by being long kept. It is estimated that the 
probable loss is 80 — 100 per cent. 
From the above we recognize, that the plant will present 
a close alliance to the most active of the euphorbiacese. In 
its irritating operation upon the surface, not much inferior 
to the oil of the Croton tiglium ; and in its emetic and 
cathartic operation, superior to the Euphorbia ipecacuanha, 
and E. corollata. From its alliance with these plants, its 
activity might be inferred, and this has been fully verified 
by experiment. — Southern Journ. Med, and Pharin. Nov. 
1S46. 
[Dr. Frost's paper extends to the medical relations and 
pharmaceutical treatment of the Stillingia, from which we 
condense the following. 
It possesses considerable emetic power, especially in the 
