struum, and were of an inflammable nature. I have not met with an appearance of this kind. The distilled water, however, had a substance dissolved in sufficient quantity to yield a gradual precipitate with some reagents, such as muriate of tin and acetate of lead. The strength of the distilled water is impaired by continuing the operation too long. The acrimony of the plant is expended in a very short time at the boiling heat, and a farther continuance of the distillation brings over only water.

Since the time of Dioscorides [Note A.] the acrid and stimulating properties of the Ranunculi have been well known. This acrimony resides in all the species, with the exception of R. auricomus, which is said to be mild, and perhaps two or three others. It is so powerful that it speedily inflames or corrodes the lips and tongue, if kept in contact with them. In the nostrils it acts as a violent sternutatory, and if swallowed in considerable quantity, it brings on great pain, heat and inflammation of the stomach, and has even occasioned convulsions and death.

Before the introduction of Cantharides as a vesicatory, different species of Ranunculus were used upon the skin, as external stimulants. Their power of occasioning erosion and ulceration

appears to have been known to the ancients. Different medical writers have given accounts of their mode of operation; but the most extensive history and investigation is that of Krapf, published at Vienna, in 1766. This work, which I have not seen, is quoted in all its principal facts by Professor Murray of Göttingen in the Apparatus medicaminum. According to this author the various species, with which his experiments were made, proved capable of exciting inflammation, blistering and ulceration, when applied to the skin. A slice of the fresh root of R. bulbosus placed in contact with the inside of the finger, brought on a sense of burning in two minutes. When taken off, the skin was found without redness, and the sense of heat and itching ceased. In two hours, however, it returned again, and in ten hours a full serous blister was raised. This was followed by an ulcer of bad character and difficult to heal. He remarks that, if the application is continued after the first itching, the pain and subsequent erosion is much greater.

From the accounts given of this species, also of R. sceleratus, R. acris, and some others, it appears that the leaves, flowers, buds, or roots of these plants, if bruised and applied to the skin, excite redness and vesication. This effect is not

constant, but fails to take place in certain constitutions or at certain seasons of the year. Generally, however, they are said to operate in half an hour, or less, from the time of their application. They are stated to possess the advantage over blisters made by flies, that they never occasion symptoms of strangury.

With a view to their external stimulus they have been used advantageously in rheumatism, the hip disease, hemicrania, and fixed pains of various descriptions. Among the old practitioners, who have recorded instances of their effects, are Baglivi, Storck, and Sennertius. A curious practice, at one time, prevailed in several countries in Europe, of applying the Ranunculus to the wrists or fingers, for the cure of intermittent fever. This is mentioned by Van Swieten, Tissot, and some others. In hemicrania it was applied to the head, and in this case it did not produce a discharge, nor break the skin; but occasioned tumefaction of the hairy scalp.

An objection against the use of the Ranunculi, as external stimulants, exists in the uncertainty of their operation, and the violent effects which sometimes have followed after they had been applied. Those writers, who have witnessed their application, record instances in which these vege

table blisters have been followed by deep, illconditioned and sloughing ulcers, which were not healed without great difficulty. Tissot mentions an instance, in which an application made to the thumb caused a deep, painful ulcer, which penetrated to the bone, and occupied some months in its cure. In another case the blister spread, in a few hours, over the whole arm, occasioning fever and delirium, and was followed by such a tendency to gangrene, that the limb was with difficulty saved. Chesnau, quoted by Murray, advises that the Ranunculus should be applied to a small surface only, and through a perforation in an adhesive plaister, to prevent it from spreading. From want of this caution, he had known extensive inflammation to arise and spread over a greater part of the face, neck, and breast.Linnæus, in his Flora Suecica, relates that beggars, in Sweden, were known to excite ulcerations of their feet with the Ranunculus sceleratus, to assist them in extorting charity from passengers.

I know not to what extent the efficacy of the Ranunculi, externally applied, can be depended on. Certain it is that they do not affect all persons alike, and this fact is avowed by those who have used them most. I have repeatedly made applications of the contused roots and

leaves of different species to my arm and hand, and worn them for a dozen hours, without feeling any particular sensation, or perceiving any visible effect. The rapid drying up of the moisture of the plant seemed to prevent it from acting upon the, skin. I am inclined to believe, there is something in the action of these vegetables analogous to that of the poisonous species of Rhus described in this work; which some individuals, but not all, are susceptible of. The extensive and spreading inflammation, which they occasionally produce, resembles more the effect of these shrubs, than of any of the ordinary rubefacients or vesicants.

The burning sensation which the Ranunculi excite in the mouth when chewed, extends to the stomach if they are swallowed. Krapf states that a small portion of a leaf or flower of R. sceleratus, or two drops of the juice, excited acute pain in the stomach, and a sense of inflammation in the throat. He gave a large quantity of the juice to a dog, which brought on vomiting and great distress; and the animal being killed, was found with the stomach inflamed and contracted, and the pylorus hardly pervious. The same author informs us that dilution greatly diminishes the power of this fluid, so that half a