254 
DAPHNE TRIBE OF PLANTS. 
the former, however, when too hard, liberate the mercury in- 
stead of promoting its division. 
The addition of substances which act chemically upon mer- 
cury is unnecessary in effecting its extinction, as the circum- 
stance requiring particular attention is the degree of viscosity 
possessed by the menstruum, and resinous substances are par- 
ticularly applicable. 
An insoluble powder divides the metal with increased 
facility when mixed with water into the form of a stiff paste. 
Lond. Pharm. Trans. 
ART. XXXVI.— ON THE DAPHNE TRIBE OF PLANTS. 
By Mr. Squire. 
Having ascertained that a considerable quantity of the root 
supplied to the trade as Mezereon, is, in fact, the root of the 
Daphne Laureola, I propose to offer some remarks on this 
tribe of plants, with the result of a few experiments which I 
have made, for the purpose of ascertaining the comparative 
efficacy of the above species. 
Dr. A. T. Thomson states, in a foot-note in his Dispensa- 
tory, that in France the Daphne Gnidium and in Germany 
the Daphne Laureola are indiscriminately used for the Daphne 
Mezereum. In Dr. Pereira's Materia Medica it is stated, 
that Tragus (1532) is the earliest author who mentions the 
Daphne Mezereum, and says, that the Mezereon of Avicenna 
and of other Arabian authors, is declared by C. Bauhin to be 
the Chamelsea Tricocca (now called Cneorum tricoccon,) a 
plant of the order Euphorbiaciae; but it is probably identical 
with the of Dioscorides, which is declared by Sib- 
thorp to be the Daphne Oleoides. It is unnecessary to give 
a botanical description of these plants, as they are described 
in every work on medical botany. 
