PHARMACOPCEIAL VEGETABLE DRUGS.

In the form of a decoction of its chips, logwood has been a favoritein domestic medicine, and owing to its mild astringency it has beenused for a considerable time by licensed physicians. In 1746, underthe name of Lignum tinctile Campechense, it became official in theLondon Pharmacopoeia.

HAMAMELIDIS CORTEX ET FOLIA

Witch-hazel, Hamamelis virginiana. The decoction and infusionof the bark as well as of the leaves of this shrub have been in com-mon use from tbe days of the American Indian, whose use of the plantled the settlers to its employment. They also used the leaves aswell as the pounded bark in the making of a poultice for topical usein inflammations. These domestic uses of the drug led to its intro-duction by the medical profession at an early date. A mixture ofhydrastis root and hamamelis leaves was held in high repute by Pro-fessor John King, M. D. (356), as a wash and as an injection. Thepreparation known as distilled hamamelis, or distilled extract of hama-melis, introduced by Pond about the middle of the nineteenth Century,became very populär and has an increasing demand at the present time,a Substitute or imitation being introduced into the pharmacopoeia underthe title "hamamelis water."

HEDEOMA

American pennyroyal, Hedeoma pulegioides, is a fragrant herb,native to America, and generally distributed throughout the temperateportions of North America. It was used by the Indians in the formof decoctions and infusions, and was introduced by them to the settlers,Coming thence to the attention of the medical profession. Its chief useat the present time is in the making of the volatile oil distilled there-from. This plant must not be confused with the pennyroyal of Europe,a small, aromatic herb, Mentha pulegium, common throughout Europe,extending northward to Sweden, eastward to Asia Minor and Persia,and southward to Abyssinia and Arabia. The European pennyroyal,also a common domestic remedy, has fallen into therapeutic neglect bythe profession.

HUMULUS

Hops (Humulus lupulus) is a climbing vine found in thicketsand along river banks throughout Europe, and extending to and be-yond the Caucasus and Caspian regions. Introduced into America,hops have become aeclimated, and especially in the Northwest are cul-tivated in immense quantity. Hop gardens existed in France and Ger-many in the eighth and ninth centuries, and "Bavarian hops" wereesteemed in the eleventh Century. It has been asserted that Williamthe Conqueror, 106g, granted the use of land for hops in England. Theoriginal use of hops was in decoction as a stomachic medicine, whilsttheir employment in the making of malted liquors is familiär to all.As a tonic, the hop is still valued in simple decoction and in extract,both by the people and the profession of medicine.

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