lowish-brown to a dark-brown color. The best is of a dark color, and is easily broken into small angular fragments, with a smooth, glossy surface, bearing some resemblance to kino. It is without smell, and has an astringent, bitter taste. It contains about 50 per cent. of catechu-tannic acid, which strikes a greenishblack precipitate with ferric salts, and about 30 per cent. of an acid principle, called catechin, to both of which it owes its peculiar properties; also, in small amount, quercitrin and catechu-red.

Effects and Uses.-This is one of the most powerful and valuable of the vegetable astringents, possessing also mild tonic properties. It is much employed in combination with other remedies in diarrhoea, dysentery, and hemorrhages, and is best administered half an hour before meals. It is a good deal used in relaxed conditions of the mouth and throat, to relieve the hoarseness of public speakers, also in aphthous ulcerations of the mouth and spongy affections of the gums. Topically, it is employed as a styptic, and in solution as an injection in gonorrhoea and gleet. Dose of the powder, gr. x to 3ss in bolus or emulsion.

Of the compound tincture (12 parts with cinnamon 8 parts in diluted alcohol to make 100 parts), the dose is fɔ̃j-iij. The troches each contain of catechu, gr. j, with sugar, tragacanth, and orange-flower water.

KINO.

The term Kino is applied to the products of several trees. Five varieties are known. 1. East India kino, which is the most common, and is the INSPISSATED JUICE of Pterocarpus Marsupium (Nat. Ord. Leguminosa), a lofty tree of Malabar. 2. African kino, the original variety introduced into Europe, but not now met with; obtained from Pterocarpus erinaceus. 3. Botany Bay kino, the concrete juice of Eucalyptus resinifera (Nat. Ord. Myrtacea), a large tree of Australia. 4. Bengal or Palas kino, from the Butea frondosa (Nat. Ord. Leguminosa). 5. Jamaica and Caraccas kino, the extract of the wood and bark of Coccoloba uvifera, or Seaside Grape (Nat. Ord. Polygonacea), a small tree of South America and the West Indies.

East India kino is met with in small, angular, shining fragments, of a dark-brown or reddish-brown color, brittle, without smell, but with a very astringent taste. It contains kino-tannic acid, kino-red, pyrocatechin (a trace), and kinoïn.

South American kino comes in large masses, externally very dark, and internally of a deep reddish-brown color.

Jamaica kino resembles the last, but is contained in large gourds.

Effects and Uses.-Kino is a powerful astringent, and is much used in diarrhoea, chronic dysentery, leucorrhoea, gonorrhea, and hemorrhages. Externally, it is employed as a styptic, and as a stimulant to indolent ulcers. Dose of the powder, gr. x3ss; of the tincture (10 parts, glycerin 15 parts, alcohol and water to make 100 parts of tincture), fɔ̃j-ij may be given, and it is frequently added to chalk mixture in diarrhœa.

KRAMERIA.

Krameria or Rhatany is the ROOT of Krameria triandra and of K. tomentosa (Nat. Ord. Polygaleæ), shrubs of Peru, Bolivia, and New Granada. It occurs in woody cylindrical pieces, of the thickness of a goose-quill to twice that size—many radicles being often united to a common head. They have a dark, reddish-brown bark and a tough central ligneous portion, of a lighter red color. They are without smell, but have a very astringent, slightly bitter and sweetish taste, which is much stronger in the cortical than the ligneous portion; and hence the smallest pieces should be preferred, as they contain the most bark. Rhatany yields a large proportion of kramero-tannic and rhatanic red. It imparts its properties to both cold and boiling water, but more fully to alcohol.

Effects and Uses.-Rhatany is powerfully astringent, with some tonic properties. It is much used in the treatment of diarrhoea, dysentery and hemorrhages, and as an enema. Trousseau strongly recommends its use. in fissure of the anus and in tenesmus due to chronic dysentery or hemorrhoids; it is also used in hemorrhoids and leucorrhoea. The powdered extract is an ingredient in many tooth-powders, and the tincture is used also as an astringent mouth-wash. Dose of the powder, gr. XX-XXX; watery extract, dose, gr. x-xv; fluid extract, dose, fɔ̃ss-j; tincture (20 per cent.), dose, foj-ij; and syrup, dose, föj-iv. The troches each contain gr. ij of Krameria with sugar, tragacanth and orange-flower water.

HÆMATOXYLON.

Logwood, or Campeachy wood, is the HEART-WOOD of Hæmatoxylon campechianum (Nat. Ord. Leguminosa), a mediumsized tree of Campeachy and other maritime parts of tropical America, and now naturalized in the West Indies. The portion used in medicine, and also as a dye, is the heart-wood, from which the bark and white sap-wood are removed previous to exportation. It is imported in billets of different sizes, of a dark color externally and a deep red internally; in the shops it is kept in chips or raspings. It has a sweetish, astringent taste and a feeble, not unpleasant, smell. It contains tannic acid, a coloring principle called hæmatein, hæmatoxylin (C16H14O6), resin, etc.

Effects and Uses.-It is a mild astringent, useful in chronic diarrhoea and dysentery, and particularly well adapted to the weakened condition of the bowels which follows cholera infantum. Mothers should be told that the stools of infants taking hæmatoxylon will stain their napkins red. It is also much employed in the diarrhoea of phthisis. It is given in decoction in the dose of f3j to adults, and f5j to children; or watery extract, in the dose of gr. x-xxx in solution.

QUERCUS ALBA-WHITE OAK.

The barks of several species of American oaks possess astringent properties, and are probably to be found in the shops, but the only officinal variety is Quercus alba, White Oak (Nat. Ord. Cupulifera). The INNER BARK is the portion used, but the leaves and acorns also are astringent. White-oak bark is distinguished by its whitish color. When prepared for use, it is deprived of its epidermis, and is of a light-brown color and fibrous texture, with an astringent and bitterish taste. Water and alcohol extract its virtues, which depend mainly on the presence of querci-tannic acid (C2H2O12), tannin, oak-red, etc.

Effects and Uses.—A decoction of white-oak bark is a good remedy in diarrhoea and hemorrhoids, and is employed as an enema in hemorrhoids and prolapsus, and fissure of the anus, as a gargle in relaxation of the uvula, and as an injection in leucorrhoea without inflammation and where the discharge is profuse, in checking which the mineral astringents have failed. It, however, stains the linen.

It is also used on a cotton tampon in descensus uteri, rectocele or cystocele when these conditions are due to relaxation of the parts, or when operative interference is not justifiable. Of decoction of white-oak f3ij may be taken frequently.

FIG. 14.

GERANIUM MACULATUM. RHIZOME.

GERANIUM.

One of the most powerful of the indigenous astringents is Geranium maculatum, Crowfoot, or Cranesbill (Nat. Ord. Geraniacea), a perennial herbaceous plant, growing in moist woody situations, with an erect stem one to two feet high, pale-green,

mottled leaves, and large purple flowers, which appear in April and May. The part used is the RHIZOME, which should be collected in the autumn. This, when dried, occurs in wrinkled, rough pieces, from a quarter to a half an inch in thickness, furnished with slender fibres, of a dark-brown color externally and a pale flesh-color within. It has an astringent but not bitter taste and no smell, and contains tannic and gallic acids with mucilage.

Effects and Uses.-This is an excellent simple astringent, agreeing very well with the stomach, and might be advantageously substituted for more expensive foreign drugs. It may be used internally to fulfill the indications of kino, rhatany, etc., in bowel complaints and hemorrhages, and topically as an enema, gargle, injection, etc. It is also a styptic. Dose, in powder, gr. x to xx; of the decoction, f5j-ij may be given. A decoction in milk is given to children. The fluid extract may be given in doses of f3ss-j.

HAMAMELIS.

Hamamelis virginica, or Witchhazel (Nat. Ord. Hamamelacea), is a shrub, from six to ten feet high, growing in the damp woods. of the United States and Canada. The LEAVES are the officinal part, and should be collected in autumn. They are bitter and astringent. The bark may also be used. Hamamelis contains tannic acid (8.10 per cent.), a bitter principle not yet accurately determined, etc.

Effects and Uses.-Hamamelis is an astringent, and, according to Phillips, possesses probably a hemostatic and shrinking power over veins, especially those of the skin and mucous membranes. It has been used with success in passive hemorrhages, in hematemesis, hemoptysis,* and hematuria. It is beneficial in hemorrhoids,† checking the bleeding and reducing the size of the enlarged veins. For this purpose it may be given internally and used as an injection, beginning with 3j to water zij, and gradually increasing the strength. The injection should be taken morning and evening, and retained, and it must be continued for some time (H. M.). It is also recommended in

*Bull. Gen. de Thérap., cvi, p. 193. Dujardin-Beaumetz. Sur Hamamelis Virginica.

+ Ibid.