the drug. Its therapeutic qualities have not yet been investigated; but from its nature, Dr. Craig considers it likely to be an aromatic and anti-spasmodic.

The Effect of Intense Cold on Cherry-Laurel. Prof. Flückiger. (Pharm. Journ., 3rd series, x., 749.) The author records some interesting experiments showing the influence of severe frosts upon the leaves of Prunus laurocerasus. These experiments lead to the conclusion that the source of hydrocyanic acid and benzylic aldehyde in these leaves is completely destroyed by intense cold. A minute quantity of an essential oil is still afforded by the leaves, but it does not agree with the oil as yielded by the living plant. Dried leaves are sometimes said likewise to yield no longer any hydrocyanic acid. The author is not able to confirm this statement, he having ascertained that fresh cherry-laurel leaves, dried for several days at the temperature of the water-bath, on distillation with water yielded a small amount of the said acid.

The Stigmata of Maize. (From the Practitioner, June, 1880.) Professor Castan has recently called attention to the stigmata of maize as a remedy which he has found to be of great use in gravel and nephritic colic. In the latter disease there ensued after the administration of the drug a marked decrease in the painful symptoms, and he therefore supposed that the stigmata acted less as a diuretic than as a local anesthetic.

The different results which the use of the stigmata of maize has given at the hands of different observers appears to be due in large measure to the fact that the strength of the extract varies, according to the nature of the soil, to the climate, to the time, to the mode of picking, and to the manner of drying the stigmata. The formula for the preparation of the syrup is not yet fixed, since the quantity of the active principle varies in the different samples of the stigmata. The Pharmaceutical Union adopts formula which contain in one case six, and in another twelve grams of extract to the kilogram of syrup. The latter receipt is based on the assumption of a strength of 12 per cent. This quantity appears, however, to be too small, since the best samples of stigmata yield 25 to 30 per cent. of extract, or on an average 27.5. The kilogram of syrup will therefore contain 27.5 grams with this strength (27.5 per mille). The daily dose of the syrup will be two to four spoonfuls, representing about one or two grams of the extract. In all cases the syrup should be used in preference to an infusion of the stigmata of maize. The Botanical Source of Araroba. Dr. J. M. de Aguear. (Pharm. Journ., from the author's pamphlet "Memoria Sobre a

Araroba." Bahia, 1879.) The author has had an opportunity of fully examining the leaves and flowers of the araroba plant, and has thus been able to clear away the mystery hitherto existing as to the botanical source of the drug which, under the name of Goa powder, or araroba, attracted so much attention a few years ago. The flowers and fruit obtained by the author show that the araroba plant is more nearly allied to Centrolobium than to Casalpinia, having truly papilionaceous flowers, and that it belongs to the genus Andira, of the subtribe Geoffraceae, which is characterized by having a hard, drupaceous, one-seeded fruit, sweet-smelling, violet or purplish flowers arranged in panicles, a calyx with short teeth, and five distinct petals. From centrolobium it is distinguished by the fruit, which in that genus resembles a samara, and is furnished with prickles at its base. The bark of Andira inermis was formerly a well-known remedy for intestinal parasites, under the name of cabbage-tree bark or worm bark.

The following description is taken from the information contained in the author's pamphlet :

The plant from which araroba is extracted is one of the larger intertropical trees which are met with between 13° and 15° of latitude, south of Bahia, especially in the forests of Camamu, Igrapiuna, Santorem, Taperoa, and Valencia, and rivals in height the tree commonly known under the name of Oleo (Myrocarpus fastigiatus, or Myrospermum erythroxylum), and sometimes attains even greater dimensions. The ordinary height of the tree is 80 to 100 feet; the trunk is straight, cylindrical, and in the two specimens which were measured, in the thickest part one was 31 and the other 48 centimetres in diameter. The tree commences to branch at more than a third of its whole height, and forms a not very leafy head, having the form of a segment of a spheroid. The bark of the tree is not very thick, and appears to contain scarcely any of the active principle of the plant. The wood has a yellow colour, and is very porous, having numerous longitudinal canals visible to the naked eye, although these are more distinctly seen under a lens. The trunk in a transverse or tangentical section presents lacunæ more or less large according to the age of the tree, and in these a pulverulent substance (araroba) is found, which in trees recently cut down, and before being dried, is of a light or pale tint, clearer than that of the wood. The medullary centre exhibits a canal different in appearance from the lacunæ, having a diameter much more considerable. The young branches are entirely fistulose.

The leaves are alternate, compound, and paripinnate. The petiole

in two specimens which were measured, was in the one 32 and in the other 44 centimetres in length, having a variable number of pairs of stalked leaflets,-in one specimen 20, and in another 24. The leaflets are alternate and articulated, oblong, obtuse, entire, and emarginate at the apex, measuring from 2 to 4 centimetres in length, and from 1 to 1 centimetres in width. The distance between the points of insertion of the leaflets is about 2 centimetres, so that the leaflets only slightly overlap each other.

The common petiole or rachis is slender, convex on the under surface, and hollowed above into a small very smooth furrow; the secondary petioles, which measure about half a centimetre in length, are accompanied for a small distance by the rudiments of stipels. The leaflets are feather-veined, of a green colour on the upper surface, and of an ashy hue beneath. The infloresence is centripetal, consisting of a panicle with a variable number of racemes, each of which consists, in the more luxuriant specimens, of about eight flowers or flower buds. The flowers are shortly stalked, alternately arranged, and are each furnished with a bract, which does not develop at the same rate as the flower, and hence the lower bracts appear smaller than the upper ones. The common peduncle is bare of flowers at the base for about a third of its length. The flowers are purple, papilionaceous, measuring 2 to 3 centimetres without the claw, which is about half a centimetre long. The calyx is gamosepalous, 2 centimetres long, covered with rusty-coloured hairs, a little flattened on three faces, like a triangular prism with rounded angles, the dorsal angle being the more prominent, and corresponding to the middle of the standard. The calyx is five-toothed, the two upper teeth being larger and longer, and separated by a more obtuse angle than the other three, which are equal, and of which two correspond in position to the wings of the corolla, and the central one

to the keel.

The corolla consists of five clawed petals, the standard being entire, orbicular, about 2 centimetres in diameter, slightly emarginate at the apex, and furnished with a claw about half a centimetre long, and consisting in great part of the thickened middle vein of the standard. The ale or wings are obovate, elongated, about 16 millimetres long by 6 broad, curved towards the base, and forming a longitudinal and oblique sinus (gotteira) near the top of the claw on the side opposite to the standard, the claw being about 7 millimetres long. The two petals forming the keel are similarly formed, but less curved, and 4 or 5 millimetres broad. The stamens, nine in number, are monadelphous and perigynous, about 2 centi

metres long, and adherent for about a third of their length, but having a slit opposite to the middle of the vexillum. The anthers are ovoid, with a longitudinal furrow on their inferior surface, in the middle of which the filament is inserted. The upper surface is convex and smooth. The pistil consists of a single carpel, and exceeds the stamens in length by 1 or 2 millimetres. The ovary,