Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
August,  1883.  ) 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
417 
takes  place  the  poppy  plants  should  be  taken  up  by  the  roots  one  by 
one  and  collected  into  small  bundles.  Each  bundle  should  then  be 
bound  by  a  young  green  withe,  and  then  so  placed  upright  in  the 
ground  that  the  roots  of  the  plants  be  covered,  in  which  position  they 
should  remain  for  a  few  days  until  the  seed  contained  within  the  pods 
shall  have  become  thoroughly  matured  and  dry.  Then  the  pods  should 
be  threshed  with  a  stick  until  they  break  open,  when  the  seed  may  be 
collected. 
"Another  method  is  to  sever  the  stem  of  the  plant  at  the  knot  which 
is  to  be  found  close  tPp  to  the  pod,  with  the  finger  and  thumb,  and 
after  collecting  the  ends  so  severed  to  spread  them  out  to  dry  in  some 
open  place,  and  then  to  break  them  open  by  threshing,  or  else  to  pull 
them  to  pieces,  and,  after  sifting  the  seed  until  it  is  quite  free  from 
extraneous  matter,  to  collect  it. 
"At  Karahissar  they  purposely  burn  most  of  the  pods  and  reduce 
them  to  ashes,  a  fluid  extracted  from  which  they  use  to  bleach  cotton, 
on  the  ground  that  it  is  more  effective  than  the  water  strained  off  from 
ordinary  ashes. 
"After  extracting  the  oil  from  the  poppy  seed,  there  remains  a  sedi- 
ment technically  called  ^  kyusebe,''  on  which  buffalo,  cows,  and  black 
kine  generally  are  fed,  on  the  ground  that  such  diet  increases  the 
amount  of  milk,  and  so  of  ^  caimak '  (cream).'' — Phar.  Jour,  and  Tr'ans, 
May  18,  1883,  p.  918. 
GLEANINGS  IN  MATERIA  MEDICA. 
By  The  Editor. 
Gouania  domingensis,  J  An. ;  Chewstiek. — The  cylindrical  stems  are 
8  to  16  mm.  to  f  inch)  thick;  the  dingy  grey-brown  bark  is  1  mm. 
(2V  inch)  thick,  longitudinally  wrinkled  and  with  difficulty  separated 
from  the  wood.  The  very  thin  cork  consists  of  somewhat  flattened 
cells,  with  mostly  the  inner  wall  thickened  and  containing  a  red-brown 
mass.  The  middle  bark  contains  chlorophyll,  and  in  many  cells 
single  monoclynic  crystals  of  calcium  oxalate,  the  primary  bast  bundles 
in  small  groups,  the  fibres  broad,  usually  roundish  and  with  distinct 
layers,  occasionally  groups  of  small,  lemon-yellow  stone  cells  inclosing 
crystals.  The  inner  bark  consists  of  extended  bast  bundles  divided  by 
the  delicately-celled  medullary  rays  and  surrounded  by  rows  of  crystal 
cells.    The  bast  fibres  are  long,  thin,  and  characterized  by  the  sharply- 
27 
