For external use it is best employed as ointment with vaselin (5.0 grams of the turpentine to 30.0 grams of vaselin). This is best mixed. with gentle heat.-Am. Jour. Phar., December, 1880, p. 604; from Phar. Ztg., October 23d, 1880.

Chian Turpentine-Therapeutic Value.-Professor John Clay draws attention to the fact that most of the Chian turpentine offered in the markets is fictitious. Of upwards of three hundred samples which have been sent to him for identification, and which had been sold under guarantee of purity, only a few were genuine. His experience with the genuine article, since first writing upon the subject, substantiates his original conclusions as to its efficacy in cancer. The turpentine has, in his opinion, not had a fair trial, and cannot have a fair trial until the genuine article is more readily and abundantly obtainable in the market. Much also depends upon the manner of its exhibition. The mucilage with which the emulsion is made should be fresh, and the emulsion as perfect as possible. The addition of sulphur is an advantage, and should be omitted only when it is not tolerated by the patient.-Phar. Jour. Trans., October 16th, 1880, p. 309; from Lancet, October 2d, 1880.

Rhus-Various Species, their Uses, etc.-Dr. T. J. W. Burgess, at the recent meeting of the Canada Medical Association at Ottawa, read a paper on the beneficial and toxical effects of the various species of Rhus, from which the following abstract may find place here:

No less than fourteen species of Rhus are, or have been, used in the arts and sciences (the term including medicine), and these may be divided into two classes, native and foreign. Of the foreign species there are six, viz.:

Rhus colinus, sometimes cultivated in our gardens, and known under the name of "smoke plant." It is a native of Siberia, Austria, and Northern Italy, and finds no application in medicine or pharmacy, but yields one variety of the yellow dye-wood, known in the trade as fustic.

Rhus coriaria, a native of the Ukraine, in Russia. Both the leaves and berries have been used as astringents and tonics, the ground twigs as a dye-stuff.

Rhus succedanea, indigenous to Japan, yields the vegetable wax known as "Japanese Wax."

Rhus vernicifera, a native of India and Japan, and yielding, from incisions in the stem, a gum from which is made one of the best varnishes.

Rhus metopium, found in the West Indies, chiefly Jamaica, is said to be one of the sources of "hog gum," so extensively used by bookbinders in the process of marbling paper.

Rhus semialata, a native of China and Japan, yields a gall largely used by the Chinese in dyeing their celebrated yellow silks. It is also highly esteemed by them as an astringent medicine.

Of the native species of Rhus there are eight, four of which are non-poisonous, and four of them highly noxious. By non-poisonous, however, is only understood that the plants are not poisonous by contact, for even these may act as irritants in large doses. The nonpoisonous are:

Rhus aromatica,-fragrant sumach,-which extends from Lake Superior westward and southward, in dry rocky soil, a variety, the R. trilobata, of Nuttall, chiefly affecting the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada. This plant has, during the past ten years, whether justly or not, obtained a high reputation as an astringent, and seems to deserve an extended trial. The dose of the fluid extract, in cases of hæmorrhage, is 20 drops every hour in extreme cases; for diarrhoea, 15 drops after each stool; for nightsweats, 10 to 20 drops at bedtime.

Rhus glabra is well known, and is an officinal of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia (i. e., the fruit, REP.). The fluid extract of the inner bark is useful for many purposes, and in the treatment of mercurial ptyalism is better adapted than preparations of the fruit.

Rhus copallina, which is mentioned as one of the plants yielding gum copal, possesses similar, but less strongly marked, medicinal properties to R. glabra, for which it may be substituted.

Rhus typhina-staghorn sumach-is very common throughout Canada. It also possesses properties similar to R. glabra.

The poisonous characters of the four remaining species are very similar. They are:

Rhus pumila, growing only in the Southern States, and very common in North Carolina.

Rhus diversiloba. Torr. et Gray (Rhus lobata, Hook.), approaches very nearly to R. Toxicodendron. It is chiefly known by the Spanish name of "Hiedra." According to Dr. Caulfield, an antidote to poisoning by this species is found in another California plant, the Grindelia hirsutula, of which either the bruised plant itself or a decoction is applied to the parts.

Rhus venenata, formerly called Rhus vernia, is known by the different names of poison dogwood, poison elder, poison ash, poison sumach, swamp sumach, white sumach, and varnish tree. Like R. Toxicodendron, it is found throughout North America, and it affects rich, swampy ground in shady situations. The poisonous properties of this plant, which is one of the handsomest shrubs imaginable, are said to be even more powerful than those of the last species.

Rhus Toxicodendron, which may be made to include R. radicans, as botanists are now well agreed that it is merely a variety of the former.

The plants for which these are most frequently mistaken are the Virginia creeper or American ivy (Ampelopsis quinquefolia), and Aralia nudicaulis and A. quinquefolia, commonly known as wild sarsaparilla and ginseng. The plants are easily distinguished if one will remember a single simple distinctive mark, viz., five leaflets on a single stalk, whereas Rhus Toxicodendron has only three. Other distinguishing marks are, that the Aralias have regular serrate leaves, and in A. nudicaulis the flower-stem is separate from the leaf-bearing one.Phar. Jour. Trans., April 16th, 1881, pp. 858-860.

Rhus-Occurrence of Crystals.-Arthur Meyer has subjected the intercellular secretions of various species of Rhus to microscopic and microchemical examination, which has led him to some interesting observations. He finds that these secretions contain crystals in tolerable abundance, which, while differing in form according to species, possess the following reactions in common: The crystals are completely combustible; they dissolve without turbidity in sulphuric, acetic, and oxalic acid, and in lime-water, but are insoluble in alcohol, chloroform, and water; they are, moreover, double-refractive, and their lines of deflection are parallel and perpendicular to their edges. In three species-R. Toxicodendron, Mich., R. vernicifera, D. C., and R. succedanea, L. (perhaps also R. venenata, D. C.), all of which are closely related-the crystals were of identical shape, while the microchemical examination of the secretions also revealed no distinctive character. The crystals as well as the secretion of R. pubescens, Thunb., and R. villosa, L., were identical in character and differed from the above, while the form of crystals in the secretion of R. cotinus, L., was different from both of the above. Finally, R. typhina, L., is characterized by the absence of crystals and the peculiarity of the secretion, which appears as a fine granular emulsion.-Arch. d. Pharm., August, 1880, pp. 112-115.

Rhus Aromatica-Microscopical and Chemical Examination.—Mr. Harry Winston Harper has subjected the bark of the fragrant sumach (syn. sweet sumach, stink or skunk bark) to microscopical and chemical examination. The bark occurs in quills, 1 to 4 inches in length,

toinch in diameter, and to inch thick. The outer surface varies in color from light to dark brown, and is marked with corky protuberances and transverse fissures. When the corky layer is removed the outer bark is brought to view, which is of an orangered color, is longitudinally wrinkled, and transversely fissured. The inner surface is whitish or flesh-colored, and striate. The bark is brittle, breaks with a somewhat granular fracture, yields an ochrecolored powder, and has a distinct, rather pleasant odor, more marked when green than when dry; its taste is astringent, aromatic, and slightly bitter when fresh, with a flavor peculiar to the plant from

which it is derived. It should be collected in the spring of the year. Upon microscopical examination the bark appears to be radially and tangentially striate, and is marked throughout with oil-tubes and crystals, as is shown in the accompanying illustrations (Fig. 86). I shows a transverse section of the bark magnified to about forty or fifty diameters. The epidermis consists of a single row of cells, the walls of which are of a dark-brown color. The corky layer is some

what lighter brown, and the cells number, radially, from sixteen to twenty-five; mostly, however, eighteen. The first layer beneath the cork consists of three rows of flattened tangentially elongated parenchyma cells, followed by one of loose parenchyma and sieve-tubes. The next layer consists of three rows of bast-cells, interrupted by oiltubes. The succeeding layers are composed of ordinary parenchyma, sieve-tubes, and bast-cells, some of the rows of the latter being interrupted by oil-tubes the same as those described. The medullary rays extend more than half through the bark and consist mostly of a single

row of cells. The oil-tubes are generally in the bast rows, arranged with some regularity. In some of the sections examined three or four of the oil-tubes were found coalesced, as in I. The bark is studded with crystals, which seem to be mostly confined to the portion beyond the medullary rays. The crystals, examined under a high

RHUS AROMATICA, Aiton.-Bark of the root: I, Transverse section; II, longitudinal section; III, crystals of phosphates; IV, crystals of chlorides; V, crystals of calcium oxalate.

magnifying power, showed them as represented in III (phosphate), IV (chloride), and V (oxalate of calcium), the latter predominating. II, finally, shows a longitudinal section of the bark, in a radial direction, showing the longitudinal arrangement of the tissues, oil-tubes, and crystals, sections of two medullary rays being quite pronounced.