DIURETICS, 13 
it flowers are purple. It grows in swamps and low-lying 
grounds. The rootis the strongest part, and may be prescribed 
as a diuretic. Where gravel is known or suspected, one 
ounce of the dry crushed root, simmered in a pint of soft or 
rain water makes the decoction, of which one or two wine- 
glassfuls may be given two or more times a day as the case 
may require; of the powdered root a teaspoonful in a cup of 
boiling water, drinking the clear, is perhaps the best way to 
take it. A tincture is made of two ounces to the pint of proof 
spirit. Dose, one to two teaspoonfuls. 
BROOM TOPS (Scroparivs), 
The broom is a cosmopolitan, and almost universally known. 
The common yellow variety is the medicinal kind; although 
the white, no doubt, has similar properties. It is put down 
ip most books as diuretic, antiscorbutic, and cathartic. The 
decoction of the tops and flowers, one ounce to the pint, is 
good for dropsy, retention of urine, and water on the brain. 
The faculty use it in the expressed juice, which is made by 
chopping up the tops well and putting them through a 
powerful press. The juice is then fortified with 10 to 20 per 
cent. of alcohol. The dose is from a tea- to a table-spoonful 
three to six times aday. For preserving, when the plant is in 
bloom the tops are cut off about six inches long; should be 
carefully dried and put away in air-tight tins or strong brown 
paper bags till required. 
BUCHU LEAVES (Barosma Crenvzata). 
Tne name of this small shrub is from the Greek, signifying 
strong odour. It is found growing plentifully in South Africa 
and India. Its use was made known to us through the 
European doctors and English residents seeing the natives 
use it successfully in their practice. Recent trials 
have weakened faith in its power of increasing the flow of 
urine; but it is good in irritation and catarrh of the urinary 
organs and disease of the prostate gland (which is situated 
at the neck of the bladder). The leaves being hard, it is best 
