532 Materia Medica. — Swietenia Jebri/uga. part n.

to its softness and unctuosity is preferable to fat as a fr ictionbut it is seldom used for this purpose ; and is chiefly employedin the formation of ointments.

Officinal preparations. Adeps preparata, L. D.

SWIETENIA. Spec. Plant. Willi, ii. 557.CI. 10. Ord.l. Decandria Monogynia. Nat.ord. Trihilata?, Linn,

Meliae, Juss.G. 843. Col. five-cleft. Pet. five. Nect. cylindric, bearing the an-thers at the mouth. Capsules five-celled, woody, opening at the

base. Seeds imbricate, winged.Sp. 2. S. Febrifuga. Febrifuge Swietenia. Roxburgh, Coromandel

PIcnits, i. 18. t.17.Officinal. Swietenia Febrifuga ; Cortex, Dub. The bark of

Febrifuge Swietenia.

St/n. Rahuna (IT.), Shcm mairum ( Tarn. )

This is a native of the East Indies, growing in various places,particularly in the vicinity of Omedurdah, not far from the can-tonment of Hazareebagh; and at Rohun, from which it isknown in India by the name of Rolmn bark. It is a very loftytree, with a large sbady bead, and covered with a grey scabrousbark. The leaves are alternate and abruptly pinnated; com-posed of three or four pairs of opposite, petiolated, oval, obtuseleaflets; each from three to five inches long, and from two tothree broad, smooth, shining, and the lower side extending alittle further down on the petiole than the upper side: theflowers are middle-sized, white, inodorous; and disposed inlarge, terminating, diffused panicles, furnished with minute brac-tes: the calyx is inferior ; the nectary scarcely half the lengthof the petals and bellied; the filaments are very short, and in-serted just within the mouth of the nectary : the germ is coni-cal, bearing a thick tapering style, supporting a large targetedstigma, which shuts up the mouth of the nectary: the capsuleis large, ovate, and five-valved, with the valves gaping from thethe top. The bark is collected when the sap begins to ascendfreely, at which period it readily separates. The bai'k of thesmall or middling-sized branches are the best, and it is fit foruse as soon as it is sufficiently dry for powdering. '

Qualities. — The bark of febrifuge Swietenia is very bitterand austere, yet it is not nauseous. It is brittle, compact, of alight red colour internally, and externally covered with a rough,grey, inert epidermis. Water extracts its virtues both by in-fusion and coction; they are partially taken up by alcohol, andthe aqueous and spiritous preparations do not suffer decom-position when mixed.'

i Vide an Essay by Mr. Breton on this bark, in the Medico. Chirurff. Trans.vol. xi. p. 324.

? The wood of the tree, when treated in the same manner as the Acacia catechu,to obtain the catechu, yields an extract which has the closest affinity to Kino, andmay be substituted for it. Medico. Chirurg. Trans, vol. xi. p- 328.

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