302 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1886. 
or  sometimes  erect,  much  branched,  the  branches  ascending,  the  leaves 
small  and  varying  in  shape,  and  the  akenes  triangular,  blackish,  dull, 
granular  and  enclosed  in  the  small  sessile  calyx.  The  herb  is 
inodorous  and  has  a  slight  astringent  taste.  It  was  recommended  by 
Dioscorides  and  Plinius  as  a  remedy  in  fevers,  and  was  subsequently 
employed  in  diarrhoeas,  hemorrhages  and  as  a  vulnerary.  Recently  it 
has  been  recommended  by  Dr.  Roschtschinin,  of  St.  Petersburg,  in 
bronchial  catarrh,  asthma  and  whooping  cough,  an  infusion  30  :  1000 
being  given  in  doses  of  a  glassful  three  times  a  day.  Werner  is  said 
to  have  observed  considerable  quantities  of  an  alkaloid  in  the  plant. 
A.  Buchner,  in  1844,  found  the  plant  to  be  free  from  tannin,  and  the 
infusion  made  with  diluted  acetic  acid,  to  give  a  white  flocculent 
precipitate  with  tannin,  which  was  attributed  to  the  presence  of  albu- 
men ;  the  same  infusion  neutralized  with  ammonia  acquired  a  bright 
yellow  color. 
Prof.  Falconi,  of  Cagliari.  has  successfully  used  the  same  plant  in 
the  initial  stage  of  cholera,  giving  a  decoction  prepared  from  100  gm. 
of  the  herb  with  400  gm.  of  water. 
Phormium  tenax,  Forster,  nat.  ord.  Liliacese,  yields  the  so-called 
New-Zealand  hemp,  and  is  also  regarded  as  a  good  substitute  for 
sarsaparilla.  Dr.  F.  A.  Monckton,  in  the  Lancet,  reports  it  to  be  very 
useful  for  producing  healthy  granulations  in  cases  of  severe  larcera- 
tions  and  amputation.  A  strong  decoction  is  used,  made  by  boiling 
the  roots  and  the  butts  of  the  leaves  for  twelve  hours,  and  to  prevent 
fermentation,  which  readily  sets  in,  half  an  ounce  each  of  carbolic 
acid  and  of  glycerin  is  added  to  a  quart  of  the  decoction. 
Snake-poison. — Dr.  R.  Norris  Wolfenden  read  a  paper  before  the 
Royal  Society,  December  17,  1885,  in  which  he  demonstrated  that 
the  venom  of  the  East  Indian  cobra  (Naja  tripudians,  Merr.)  does  not 
contain  any  alkaloid  or  poisonous  acid,  but  that  its  poisonous  properties 
reside  in  the  albuminous  constituents,  and  that,  with  the  removal  of 
the  latter  or  their  destruction  by  means  of  potassium  permanganate, 
the  poisonous  properties  disappear.  The  venom  contains  three  varie- 
ties of  albumins.  Two  of  them,  globulin,  which  is  in  largest  quantity, 
and  syntonin,  act  upon  the  respiratory  centre ;  while  the  third,  serum- 
albumin,  which  exists  only  in  very  small  quantities,  probably  produces 
paralysis  of  the  motor  centres.  Whether  the  poisonous  properties  of 
these  albumins  are  due  to  some  peculiarity  of  their  constitution,  or 
whether  some  hypothetical  poison  is  linked  with  albumins  of  ordinary 
