drug excites the salivary secretion, promotes the appetite, causes diaphoresis, and, by stimulating the intestinal secretion, induces soft stools. It decidedly increases the elimination of urea (Gimbert). It is eliminated by the bronchial mucous membrane, kidneys and skin.

Eucalyptus has been given with contradictory results in miasmatic fevers, in doses varying from 3j-iv of the dried leaves, or less of the fresh, but it is unlikely that it will ever supersede quinine as an anti-miasmatic. The fluid extract is officinal; dose, f5j in some aromatic water.

Oleum eucalypti (commonly called eucalyptol) has proved efficient in bronchitis and whooping-cough; dose, gtt. v-x in capsules or emulsion.

Eucalyptus may be used as a tonic in gastric catarrh and dyspepsia, and its employment in chronic vesical catarrh is recommended. Indeed, its best effects are obtained in chronic affections of the mucous membranes, be they pulmonary, gastric, or vesical, and its beneficial influence in these diseases is due to contact of the oil during elimination with the surface. The growth of plantations of eucalyptus in miasmatic districts has been found to diminish the spread of malaria.

ANTHEMIS.

Anthemis nobilis, or Chamomile (Nat. Ord. Compositæ), is a small herbaceous, trailing European plant, cultivated extensively in both Europe and this country. The FLOWER-HEADS are the portions used. They consist of small spheroids, with convex yellow disks which contain the aromatic properties, and numerous white, spreading rays. Chamomile flowers have a bitter, aromatic taste, probably due to anthemic acid, and a strong, peculiar odor, both of which are imparted to water and alcohol. They contain a volatile oil, bitter principle, a little tannic acid, and resin, but no alkaloid has been obtained.

Effects and Uses.-Chamomile, in small doses, is a mild, agreeable, aromatic tonic, and, in large doses, acts as an emetic. The cold infusion is much employed as a stomachic, and the hot infusion is given to aid the operation of emetics. The flowers, boiled in water, form a good fomentation to inflamed parts. The usual form of administration is the infusion. Dose,

as a stomachic, f3ij, two or three times a day, cold; as an emetic, hot, ad libitum.

MATRICARIA. The FLOWER-HEADS of Matricaria chamomilla or German chamomile (Nat. Ord. Composite), an annual European plant, possess properties very similar to those of chamomile. They contain volatile oil, bitter extractive, tannin, and malates. They are not much employed in this country.

EUPATORIUM.

Eupatorium perfoliatum, Boneset, or Thoroughwort (Nat. Ord. Compositæ), is a very common indigenous plant, growing in wet grounds in every part of the United States. It has numerous herbaceous stems, with long, narrow leaves, per

forated by the stems.

The LEAVES and FLOWERING TOPS are the officinal portion. They have a faint odor, a strongly bitter taste, impart their virtues to water or alcohol, and contain a bitter

glucoside, called eupatorin; also gum, tannic acid, and a trace of volatile oil. In the leaves are found also resin, wax, and gallic acid.* E. teucrifolium, E. aromaticum, and other native species, are almost identical in their properties with E. perfoliatum.

Effects and Uses.-Thoroughwort is a stimulant tonic, diaphoretic and expectorant, and in large doses proves emetic and laxative. It is a good stomachic in dyspepsia, and, from its combined corroborant, expectorant, and diaphoretic properties, is an excellent remedy in epidemic influenza, and in the latter stages of pneumonia and bronchitis. It is used also with good effect in rheumatism, and in intermittent, remittent, and typhoid fevers. It may be given in infusion, fij of which may be taken cold, as a stomachic, three or four times a day, and in freer warm draughts as a diaphoretic; but the fluid extract is to be preferred; dose, f5j.

ABSINTHIUM.

The TOPS and LEAVES of Artemisia Absinthium, or Wormwood (Nat. Ord. Compositæ), a European plant, naturalized in New England, are ranked among the aromatic bitters, but are not now much employed. They may be given in infusion.

Wormwood contains an essential oil (chiefly absinthol), a bitter principle termed absinthin (C4H8O9), tannin, etc. According to Magnan,† absinthe given to animals in small doses induces brisk muscular contractions, while large amounts provoke attacks in which the animal falls in tonic and clonic convulsions, with stertorous respiration, and involuntary fecal and urinary evacuation. The convulsions are not prevented by depriving the animal of its cerebral lobes. He points out, too, that absinthe-epilepsy "is a kind of intoxication" to which is added the phenomenon of epilepsy. The oil possesses powerful stimulant properties, in large doses producing epileptiform convulsions, and in lethal quantities (f311⁄2) is capable of causing poisonous symptoms. No fatal cases have, however, been recorded. A liqueur termed absinthe, containing the oil in question, is much used in France, with highly pernicious effects. It enters into the composition of vinum aromaticum.

* Am. Journ, of Pharmacy, F. W. Franz, Analysis of the Leaves of E. perfoliatum, Feb., 1888, p. 77.

† Compte Rendu, 1869, p. 825.

Woodman and Tidy, 1882, p. 268.

MAGNOLIA.

The BARKS of Magnolia glauca, Magnolia acuminata, and Magnolia tripetala (Nat. Ord. Magnoliacea), indigenous trees remarkable for the beauty of their foliage and the size and fragrance of their flowers, are officinal, and rank with the aromatic bitters. The barks (quilled, thin, and inodorous) of the trunk, branches, and root are alike officinal; but those of the last are the most active. They contain a volatile oil, tannin, resins, and a crystallizable bitter principle (Lloyd*). An extract of the fruit of M. umbrella yields magnolin. The aromatic property is impaired by drying, and is lost when the barks are long kept.

They are used as gentle stimulant tonics and diaphoretics, in the low stages of fever, rheumatism, etc. An infusion may be given, but the best solvent is diluted alcohol.

CASCARILLA.

This is the BARK of Croton Eluteria (Nat. Ord. Euphorbiaceae), a small tree of the Bahamas and other West India islands. It occurs in the form of small, thin, quilled pieces, though sometimes in fragments, having a grayish, easily detached corky layer and an inner smooth surface. Its taste is warm and bitter. It yields its properties to alcohol, and partially to water; and contains volatile oil, resin, a bitter crystalline principle called cascarillin, and some tannin.

Effects and Uses.-Cascarilla is a very pleasant aromatic bitter, causing neither vomiting nor purging, and hence agreeing very well with the stomach. It may be given in powder in the dose of gr. xx to 3ss; but this is a less agreeable form than the infusion; dose, f3ij.

ASTRINGENT BITTERS.

CINCHONA.

The name Cinchona (derived from the Countess of Chinchon, wife of a viceroy of Peru) is applied to the BARK of different species of Cinchona (Nat. Ord. Rubiaceæ, Cinchoneæ), large trees which grow in the mountainous regions of the western

"Drugs and Medicines of North America," Nos. 1 and 2, 1886.

portions of South America, from the 22° of south latitude to about the 10° of north latitude. Two principal varieties of cinchona are known in commerce: CINCHONA FLAVA (Yellow Bark), called in commerce Calisaya Bark, derived from Cinchona Calisaya; and CINCHONA RUBRA (Red Bark), derived from Cinchona succirubra. The Pharmacopoeia now recognizes, however, as officinal the BARKS of all species of the genus Cinchona which contain at least three per cent. of the proper cinchona alkaloids. It acknowledges the following species, viz.: C. officinalis, C. micrantha, C. calisaya, and C. ovata.

Cinchona is brought to the United States from the Pacific ports of South America. It is obtained by stripping the trunks and branches of the Cinchona trees during the dry season, and is dried by exposure to the sun, during which process the smaller pieces usually become quilled.

1. The Yellow or Calisaya Bark comes both in quilled and flat pieces. The former are from three or four inches to a foot and a half long, from a quarter of an inch to two or three inches in diameter, and of variable thickness. They have a brownish epidermis (with longitudinal wrinkles and transverse fissures), which possesses none of the virtues of the bark. The bark itself is one or two lines thick, compact, of a short, fibrous texture, and when broken presents shining points. The flat pieces, which are derived from the larger branches and trunk, are usually destitute of epidermis, are more roughly marked externally and are of a browner hue than the quilled pieces. They are also less compact, less bitter, and of less medicinal virtue. The yellow bark is distinguished from the other barks by its much more bitter taste; its comparative freedom from astringency; its brownish-yellow, somewhat orange color, which is still brighter in the powder; and by containing a large proportion of quinine with very little cinchonine.

2. The Red Bark usually comes in large, thick, flat pieces; sometimes also in quills from half an inch to two inches in diameter. They are covered with a reddish-brown, rugged epidermis, beneath which is a dark-red, brittle and compact layer, the interior parts being woody and fibrous and of a lively brownish-red color. The taste of red bark is bitter and astringent; its odor not different from that of the other barks; its