ON  THE  BARK  OF  GOMPHOSIA  CHLORANTHA. 
157 
I  have  thus  endeavored  to  describe  what  seems  to  me  an  easy 
mode  of  obtaining  an  agent  by  which  I  have  been  fortunate 
enough  to  cure  several  cases  of  tic-doloreux  (details  of  which  may 
be  forwarded  if  desired  ;)  for  which  purpose  I  dissolve  an  equiva- 
lent of  atropine  in  dilute  nitric  acid,  and  paint  the  face  at  the 
affected  spot  with  it,  until  the  pain  is  subdued.  This  usually 
occurs  in  about  three  to  five  minutes.  The  relief  experienced 
is  in  some  cases  only  temporary,  and  requires  a  second  and  even 
a  third  or  fourth  application,  but  in  many  it  has  proved 
permanent. 
I  do  not  intend  for  a  moment  to  pretend  that  it  will  cure  those 
cnses  which  owe  their  origin  to  intra-cranial  causes  ;  but  in  those 
which  are  produced  by  exposure  to  vicissitudes  of  temperature 
arid  other  eccentric  causes,  I  have  no  reason  to  doubt  its  superior 
efficacy  over  every  other  known  agent.  The  nitrate  of  atropine 
not  being  crystallizable,  the  solution  may  be  made  of  any  strength. 
The  following  answers  very  well : — Add  two  grains  of  atropine 
to  one  minim  of  strong  acid,  sp.  gr.  1.5,  and  to  this  add  one 
drachm  of  distilled  water. 
One  point  which  I  think  deserving  of  notice  in  the  above  pro- 
cess is,  that  as  the  caustic  alkalies  convert  atropine  into  ammonia, 
the  volatile  alkali  is  far  preferable  as  a  precipitating  agent. — 
Trans.  Pliarm.  Society,  in  London  Pharm.  Jour.  1855. 
Sutton  Benger,  Wilts,  Nov.  10,  1854. 
ON  THE  BARK  OF  GOMPHOSIA  CHLORANTIIA,  WEDD.,  OCCUR- 
INO  MIXED  WITH  QUILLED  CALISAYA  BARK. 
By  John  Eliot  Howard,  Esq. 
In  continuation  of  the  series  of  barks  which  I  have  deposited 
in  the  Museum  in  the  Pharmaceutical  Society,  I  now  send  a 
specimen  recently  obtained  in  commerce  of  the  bark  of  Gom- 
phosia  cMorantka,  of  Weddell. 
This  tree,  according  to  Weddell,*  «  characterizes,  up  to  a  cer- 
tain point,  the  vegetation  of  the  localities  which  it  inhabits.  Its 
lare  and  silvery  trunk,  which  in  general  surpasses  in  height 
(without  ramifications)  all  the  rest  of  the  forest,  and  its  top.  in 
*JIis(oire  Naturclle  des  Quinquinas,  p.  97- 
