SECT. VII.----PLANTS USEFUL IN MEDICINE. 69

shops are furnished with : they generally occasion gripes, sickness, dry? ll ° mouth and throat, aud leave a thirst of long duration. The dosels about twenty of the fresh berries in substance, and twice or thricel "'s number in decoction, au ounce of the expressed juice, or a dram"■ the dried berries.

256. RHEUM palmalum. Turkey- Rhubarb. Roofs. L.E.D.—"hubarb is a mild cathartic, which operates without violence or irri-tal ion, and may be given with safety even to pregnant women and to?°>ldren. In some people, however, it always occasions severe grip-ln g. Besides its purgative quality, it is celebrated for an astringent° n e,, by which it. strengthens the tone of the stomach and intestines,a! '-'l proves useful in diarrhoea and disorders' proceeding from a laxity°f the fibres. Rhubarb in substance operates more powerfully as a ca-''lartic than any of the preparations of it. Watery tinctures purgem »re than the spirituous ones; whilst the latter contain in greater per-* e ction the aromatic, astringent, and corroborating virtues of the rhu-•jarb. The dose, when intended as a purgative, is from a scruple to aWarn or more.

1'he Turkey rhubarb is, among us, universally preferred to the East* n <lia sort.

1'he plant is common in our gardens, but their medicinal powers are■BUch weaker than in those from abroad.

fi HODODENDRON Chrysanthemum.°«Sdkon. See No. 290, p. 76.

. 257. RHUS Toxicodendron. Poison-Oak. Leaves. L. E. —Of eon-Su '>erable use in paralytic affections, and is much used in the presentday.

It is, however, often substituted by the Rhus radicans, which hasn "t tlie medical properties that this 'plant has ; and it is to be regret-

''<! that the leaves of both species are so much alike, that, when ga-

'"-'red, they are not to be distinguished.

, 258. RICINUS communis. Palma Christi. Seeds and Oil. L. E. 7).-~'he oil, commonly called nut or castor oil, is got by expression) re-nins somewhat of the mawkishness and acrimony of the nut; but is, infuneral, a safe aud mild laxative in eases whore we wish to avoid irri-ta 'ion, as in those of colic, calculus, gonorrhoea, &o. and some like-wise use it as a purgative in worm-cases. Half an ounce or an ounceIjornmonly answers with an adult, and a dram or two with an infant.'he castor oil which is imported is not so good as the expressed oil'■'oni the nut made in this country. The disagreeable taste is from theCo »t8 of the seeds ; the best kind is pressed out after the seeds are de-dicated.

259. ROSA cenlifolia. Damask Rose. Petals. L. E. D.— In distil-

Yellow-Flowered Riiodo-

W£K