104 ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS, 
tile, for in roasting the nuts, if great caution be not used in 
avoiding the fumes, they will produce swelling and inflamma- 
tion of the face. The kernel itself is perfectly bland, and 
somewhat resembles a chesnut in taste. 
The shell of the nut was analyzed by Cadet, and found to 
contain much gallic acid, tannin, an extractive matter, a gum 
resin and a green colouring principle. This resin has been 
examined by M. De Mattos, {Journ de Pharm. xvi. 625.) 
He states its taste is acrid and caustic, and when applied to the 
skin produces immediate vesication, and might advantageously 
supply the place of cantharides, where strangury is feared. It 
has also been given internally as a drastic purgative in doses 
of two grains; in smaller quantities, it acts as a stimulant to 
the gastric organ. It can be readily procured by treating the 
nutshells with alcohol, evaporating and washing the residue 
with hot water, to remove any gallic acid or tannin. 
But this tree is still more interesting for the gum which it 
furnishes in considerable abundance. It is stated in the Ja- 
maica Phys. Journ., that it resembles the finest gum Arabic, 
is almost transparent, of a light straw colour, perfectly taste- 
less and brittle. Long {Hist. Jamaica) says that a tree 
" annually transudes large quantities, viz. — ten or twelve 
pounds" of this gum. 
Rhus metopium. — This species is found in many of the 
West India islands; and, according to Descourtilz, (Flor. 
Med. des •flntill. ii. 49) is used as an astringent in diseases of 
the bowels; a gum also exudes from it, which is known in 
Jamaica by the name of Hog gum, and is said by a writer in 
the Journal above quoted, to be a useful demulcent in various 
forms of disease, especially colica pictorum, and disorders of 
the respiratory organs; some cases are cited of its efficacy in 
these complaints, which show that it is evidently a valuable 
article, and deserving of further trials. The mode in which 
it was administered, was by mixing one teaspoonful of the 
fresh juice with two ounces of boiling water, the dose of which 
was a teaspoonful every fifteen or twenty minutes. In large 
