Homoeopathic provings : containing the Vienna provings of colocynth and thuja-occidentalis, and the symptoms of aethusa-cynapium, alcohol-sulphuris, amphisbaena-vermicularis, anagallis-arvensis, apis-mellifica, aristolochia-milhomens, arsenicum-metallicum, artemesia-vulgaris, asterias-rubens, cinnabaris, turpethum, coccus-cacti : being the appendix to the North American homoeopathic journal / edited by James W. Metcalf.

Metcalf, James W.

Date:: 1853

Credit: Homoeopathic provings : containing the Vienna provings of colocynth and thuja-occidentalis, and the symptoms of aethusa-cynapium, alcohol-sulphuris, amphisbaena-vermicularis, anagallis-arvensis, apis-mellifica, aristolochia-milhomens, arsenicum-metallicum, artemesia-vulgaris, asterias-rubens, cinnabaris, turpethum, coccus-cacti : being the appendix to the North American homoeopathic journal / edited by James W. Metcalf. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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the natural system of plants, to the family of the Coniferce Strobilacece, and more particularly to the variety cypress ; according to Linnaeus' sexual system it belongs to the class Monoecia. The common Thuja attains a height of from thirty to forty feet; its branches spread hori- zontally in the shape of a fan ; the twigs are broad and flat; the scales of the leaves are placed over one another in four rows like the tiles of a roof; each scale is provided with a gland in the middle of the upper surface, from which the Thuja-oil is secreted. The little cones are egg-shaped, and contain winged seeds which, like all the varieties of Thuja, Cypress and Juniper, are provided with two cotyledons ; this distinguishes them from the varieties of pine which are of the class 'polycotyledonece. On pressing out the oil from the glands by rubbing the twigs, they emit a strong odor, and their beautiful green changes in winter by the alteration of the chlorophyll into a reddish brown which is dark in proportion to the coldness of the season. The native regions of the Thuja are North America and Siberia. In Germany it is frequently used as an ornament in parks, and is fre- quently cut into all sorts of stiff shapes according to the French taste. Iu Upper Austria single Thujas are frequently found on farms, like the Sabina, and are called Cedars. The Thuja orientalis is distinguished from the Thuja occidentalis by its erect branches, the furrowed scales of its leaves, its unwinged seeds, and the absence of the peculiar odor.* Constituents of the Thuja occidentalis.—Besides the ordinary con- stituents which are found in every plant, the Thuja contains, like most coniferae, an ethereal oil of a strong odor, and a resin, its usual attend- ant. The ethereal oil, which exists in a lesser quantity in the Thuja than might have been expected from its strong smell, is obtained by distilling * Thuja Occidentalis. Common arbor vitce. Branchlets two-edged, spread- ing ; leaves imbricated in four rows, ovate-rhomboid, closely compressed, with a small flattened gland on the back ; cones nodding, obovoid, the scales few (5-7), inferior ones truncate, gibbous at the tip ; seed compressed, winged all round. Linn. sp. 2, p. 1002 ; Mickx. fl. 2, p. 226 ; Pursh.fl. 2, p. 646 ; Michx. Sylv. 2, p. 156 ; Ell. sk. 2, p. 644; Bigel.fl. Bost. p. 361 ; Beck, bot.p. 338; Hook,fl. Bor.-Am. 2, p. 165 ; Loud. Enc. tr. $ shr., p. 1068. A tree with a narrowly conical and tapering head, [in New York] seldom more than 30-35 feet high and 6-12 inches in diameter, much branched; the ultimate divisions flattened and covered with numerous obtuse shining leaves, each furnished with a little vesicle which (as in the white Cedar) is filled with a thin aromatic turpentine. Sterile aments minute at the extremity of the branchlets, consisting of a few concave, scale-like anthers. Cones about five lines long, yel- lowish-brown ; the scales loosely imbricated, opening to the base. Seeds conspicu- ously winged, emarginate, one under each scale. Rocky banks of rivers and hill-sides, also in swamps ; abundant and very con- spicuous on the Hudson above Newburgh ; Oriskany swamp ; and various parts of the northern and western counties [of the State of New York]. Fl. May. The wood is light, of a reddish color and though soft, is very durable. It is not much used for lumber, as its trunk does not afford pieces of sufficient length. It is often planted about nouses and in pleasure-grounds. In some parts of the coun- try it is called White Cedar, and in New England it is often called Hackmatack.— Torrey, Fl. State N. Y.

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