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Materia Medica.
Part II.
brought to us in little gourd-shells. It is of a yellowish-browncolour, inclining to red ; in consistence thick and tenacious:by age it grows hard and brittle. The smell of this balsam isextremely fragrant, somewhat resembling that of lemons : itstaste warm and sweetish. Lewis says, that he has sometimesprocured benzoic acid from it. It yields very little volatileoil, although it impregnates the distilled water strongly withits flavour By dissolving a proper quantity of sugar in thiswater, a more elegant syrup is obtained than that prepared inthe common way, with a decoction of the balsam. In its me-dical virtues it agrees with the other balsams.
ToRMENTILLA KRECTA. Ed. Dub. Willd.
ToR.YIEVriLLA officinalis. Lond. Smith.
Willa.
1001.
s . .„„... sp. I. Smith, g. 236, sp. 1. Icosartdria Po-lygyria. —Nat. ord. Senticosae.Septfoii. Common tormentil.
Of—The root.
Radix tormentilljE erectje. Ed.
TormentilLjE radix. Lond. Dub.
Tormentil is perennial, and found wild in woods and oncommons: it has long slender stalks, with usually seven longnarrow leaves at a joint; the root is for the most part crook-ed and knotty, of a blackish colour on the outside, and red-dish within. It has an austere styptic taste, accompaniedwith a slight kind of aromatic flavour: it is one of the mostagreeable and efficacious of the vegetable astringents, and maybe employed with good effect in all cases where medicines ofthis class are proper. Neumann got from 960 grains, 365 al-coholic, and 170 watery extract; and inversely, 570 watery,and 8 alcoholic.
Triticum.
Witld. g. 1 52. 'Triandria Monogynia. —Nat. ord. Gramina.
Sp. 2. Triticum hybernum.Wheat.
Off.— Flour, starch.
a) Farina tritici hyberni.
Farina. Ijond. Dub.I) Amylum tritici hyberni.
Amylum. Lond. Dub.
Ed. Lond. Dub,
Ed.
Ed.