Part II.

The Materia Medico.

aftringent : but neither of themare at prefent employed in me-dicine.

JUJUBE, Jujubes ; a half-dried fruit brought from France.

Jujubes have a pleafant fweettake. They are recommended inan acrimonous itate of the juices ;in coughs from thin (harp defiux-ions ; and in heat of urine : butthey are at prefent, among us, aftranger to medicinal practice, andto the fhops.

JUNCUS ODORATUS : Jun-

cus odoratus Jive mromatiau C. BuSweet rufh, or camels hay [L.J

This is . a dry fmooth llalk,brought to us along with theleaves, and fometimes the flowers,from Turkey and Arabia, tied upin bundles about a foot Ion"'.The llalk, in fhape and colour,fomewhat refembles a barley ftraw :it is full of a fungous pith, likethofe of our common ruihes : theleaves are like thofe of wheat, andlurround the ftalk with feveralcoats, as in the reed : the flowersare of a carnation colour, ftripedwith a lighter purple. The whole' plant, when in perfe&ion, has ahot bitteriflis not unpleafant, aro-matic taile ; and a very fragrantlmell ; by Jong keeping, it lofesgreatly of its aromatic flavour. Dif-tilled with water, it yields a con-siderable quantity of eflential oil.It was formerly often ufed as anaromatic, and in obfhu&ions of thevifcera, &c. but at prefent is fcarc$otherwife emplQyed than as an in-gredient in mithridatc and theiia-ca.

JUNIPER! lacctc, lignum, gum-Mi : 'Juniperi vulgaris fruticoJltCC. B. Juniper; the berries [ L . E.\wood, and the refin (improperlycalled gum) which exudes from itin the warmer climates ££.]

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This is an evergreen fhrub, grov.'-ing upon heaths and hilly groiitsdsin all the parts of' Europe : t': jwood and refin are not at prefentmade ufe of for medicinal purpoft s:the berries are brought from Hal-land, where this fhrub is very plen-tiful.

Juniper berries have a ftrong,not difagreeable fme 11 ; and awarm, pungent, fweet tafle, whichif they are long chewed, or pre-viouily well bruifed, is followedby a bitterifh one. The pungencyfeems to refide in the bark ; thefweet in the juice ; the aromaticflavour in oily veficles, fpreadthrough the fubltance of the pulp,and diftinguifhable even by theeye ; and the bitter in the feeds :the frelh berries yield, on expref-fion, a rich, fweet, honey like,aromatic juice ; if previouflypounded fo as to break the feeds,the juice proves tart and bitter.

Thefe berries arc ufeful car-minatives and ftomachics : forthefe purpofes, a fpirituous water[£.] and eflential oil diltiUed fronithem [L. E.~\ are kept in the fhops :they are ingredients alfo in thecompound horferadifii water, tinc-ture of jalap, tin&ure of fepa [/.'.Jmithridatc and tneriaca [£.] theliquor remaining after the difiil-lation of the oil, palled through aflrainer, and gently exhaied to thecomlftence of a rob, proves like-wife a medicine of great utility,and in many cafes is perhaps pre-ferable to tha oil, or berry itfelfiHoffman is expreisly of this <" :ii-on, and ftrongiy recommends itin debility of the ftomach and in-teltines, and fays it is particularlyof fervice to old people who arefubjedt to thefe diforders, cr la-bour under a difficulty with regardto the urinary excretion : hi robis of a dark, browniih yellowcolour, a balfamic iweet tdfte,

with

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