regular practice in the United States, and it appears, from the testimony which has been published in favor of it, to be well entitled to the attention of the profession. The name originated from the Greek, leirion, a lily, and dendron, a tree. It has been transported to Europe, where it is now common, but does not attain the height of more than fifty or sixty feet.

Medical Properties and Uses. This bark possesses considerable stimulant properties, but it is chiefly on account of its tonic effects that it deserves notice. It acts also occasionally as a diuretic, and in general it produces conspicuous diaphoretic effects when largely administered. The bark of the root is less stimulant, and more purely tonic, than that of the trunk or smaller branches. Given in union with dogwood, and the Prinus verticillatus, it has been employed with much success in the cure of intermittents. Dr. Rush employed it, as he states, "with as much satisfaction as any of the common bitters of the shops."

Dr. J. T. Young, in a letter to Governor Clayton, of Delaware, says: "I have prescribed the poplar bark in a variety of cases of intermittent fever; and can declare, from experience, that it is equally efficacious with the Peruvian bark, if properly administered." As this is, however, considerably stimulant, it should never be given where the intermission is marked by symptoms denoting a phlogistic tendency in the system. Bleeding and purging were formerly considered necessary preliminaries to the employment of this remedy, where the habit is inflammatory; but of late, experience has taught us that this practice proves more hurtful than beneficial to the patient.

It has also been much recommended in chronic rheumatism and in gout; and from its manifest tendency to produce diaphoresis, together with its tonic operation, there can be but little doubt of its occasional usefulness in affections of this kind. From these combined properties it also acts with great advantage in the advanced stage of dysentery. In this disease I have repeatedly employed it

in conjunction with the Ulmus aspera, in the form of decoction, and in general the effects were very satisfactory. Dr. J. T. Young, whe I have already quoted, speaks in very high terms of this remedy in the cure of hysteria. "I can assert from experience," says he, "that there is not, in all the Materia Medica, a more certain, speedy, and effectual remedy in the hysteria, than the poplar bark, combined with a small quantity of laudanum."

The bark of this tree has of late gained considerable celebrity as a tonic, in restoring action to the digestive organs; also as a valuable medicine given in connexion with the Hydrastus canadensis, in restoring weak and debilitated habits. The powdered bark also enters largely into the preparation called spice bitters, so universally used by the botanic practitioners, as a stimulating tonic. The composition powder so highly valued for the cure of colds, and as a diaphoretic, is composed of about one-eighth part of this bark. One ounce of the powdered bark, put in one quart of good wine, forms a valuable strengthening bitter for female weaknesses and general debility.

The poplar bark has been recommended and advantageously administered as an anthelmintic. Dr. J. Cost, speaking of this bark, says: "The inner bark of the Tulip-tree, or yellow poplar, Liriodendron tulipifera, is a very good bitter tonic, but is still more valuable as a prophylactic against worms." The bark may be given in substance, tincture, infusion, or decoction. In substance, however, it acts with most power. The dose of the powdered bark, for an adult, is from twenty to one hundred grains. If it produces purging and griping, a few drops of laudanum is sometimes added.

Gen. Char. Calyx, four-toothed. Petals, four, small and broad Stamens, four, alternating with petals. Style, one. Stigma, one. Fruit, a drupe, inclosing a bilocular, two-seeded nut. Spe. Char. Leaves, opposite, ovate, acuminate; base acute, glaucous beneath. Involucres, corolliform, nearly obcordate. Drupes, ovate and scarlet.

THIS tree rises from fifteen to thirty feet, with a rough, blackish bark, full of fissures; the branches are opposite, spreading, and are spotted with a reddish bark, where the old leaves have fallen off; the leaves are opposite, petiolate, oval, entire, base acute, end acuminate, and pale beneath, with strong parallel veins; the flowers are terminal, and appear when the leaves are quite young, with a large four-leaved involucre, about three inches broad, and which is often mistaken for the blossom; white, obcordate and veined; the true flowers are in the centre, small, crowded, sessile and yellowish; the calyx is campanulate, with four obtuse teeth; the corolla has four obtuse, oblong petals; the stamens, which are four in number, are erect; the anthers oblong; the style is short and erect; the stigma is obtuse; the fruit is several, oval, scarlet drupes, with a nut inside, having two cells and two seeds.

"The genus Cornus, or Cornel, must be divided into two sections: those species having the flowers capitate, sessile, and with an involucre, are the true Dogwoods (Cynoxylon), and those with cy

Vol. iii.-59,