412  Notes  on  Some  Saps  and  Secretions.  {^iiSifK"10' 
medicine  for  its  astringent  properties,  especially  in  diarrhoea,  chronic 
dysentery  and  other  such  cases. 
P.  Santa/inus,  Lin. — The  essential  oil  of  nosandus  wood,  or 
"  sandalwood,"  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  is  prescribed  for  gonorrhoea. 
This  tree  also  yields  a  kind  of  dragon's  blood. 
Rhus  Metopium,  Lin. — This  tree  is  known  in  the  West  Indies  as  the 
false  hog  gum  tree.  From  the  bark,  when  wounded,  a  transparent 
juice  exudes,  which  is  used  on  plasters  as  a  substitute  for  Burgundy 
pitch,  also  in  medicine  as  a  substitute  for  balsam  of  copaiba.  The 
milky  juice  of  some  other  species  of  Rhus,  especially  of  R.  radi- 
cans,  Lin.,  a  variety  of  R.  Toxicodendron,  Michx ,  is  exceedingly 
poisonous. 
Saccharum  officinarum,  Lin. — One-half  of  the  sugar  now  made 
in  the  world  is  produced  from  beet  root,  which,  however  well  pre- 
pared, is  inferior  to  that  obtained  from  the  sap  of  the  sugar  cane. 
The  latter  alone  is  prescribed  in  the  Pharmacopoeias  ;  it  is  demulcent, 
given  in  catarrhal  affections,  in  the  form  of  candy,  syrup,  etc.  It  is 
also  employed  in  pharmacy  to  render  oils  miscible  with  water,  and 
enters  into  the  composition  of  several  mixtures  and  pills,  and  all 
the  confections,  syrups  and  lozenges. 
Molasses  is  the  drainage  from  raw  or  muscovado  sugar.  It  is 
sometimes  sold  as  "  golden  syrup."  Treacle,  which  is  darker  and 
thicker,  is  that  which  drains  from  refined  sugar  in  the  moulds. 
Treacle  is  slightly  laxative,  and  is  used  in  pharmacy  to  give  cohesive - 
ness  to  pill  masses.  To  persons  disposed  to  dyspepsia  and  bilious 
habits,  sugar  in  excess  becomes  more  hurtful  than  otherwise. 
Sugar,  when  concentrated,  is  highly  antiseptic,  and,  from  a  knowl- 
edge of  its  possessing  this  principle,  it  is  frequently  employed  in  the 
preservation  of  vegetable,  animal  and  medicinal  substances.  Ia 
cases  of  poisoning  by  copper,  arsenic,  or  corrosive  sublimate,  sugar 
has  been  successfully  employed  as  an  antidote ;  and  white  sugar 
finely  pulverized  is  occasionally  sprinkled  upon  ulcers  with  unhealthy 
granulations. 
Salix  tetrasperma,  Roxb. — At  the  commencement  of  the  hot  sea- 
son in  India,  the  upper  surface  of  the  leaves  of  this  tree  are  occa- 
sionally covered  with  a  sugary  exudation,  which  dries  up  in  thin 
white  flakes  to  a  sugar  or  manna.  The  same  trees  often  yield  this 
exudation  several  years  in  succession,  but  it  appears  to  be  confined 
to  a  few  trees  and  is  not  common.    Two  or  three  other  species  of 
