Angustura bark. This bark, at first imported in the year 1788, was supposed to be the production of a tree on the coast of Africa; but it is now found to come from the Spanish main. Mr. Bruce pronounced it to be the bark of a tree called wooginos, by which he was cured of the dysentery in Abyssinia; and having brought over some seeds, and planted them in Kew gardens, their product he calls Brucea antidysenterica, vel ferruginea; but, in the Medical Commentaries of Edinburgh, 1790, they are, on comparison, proved to be very different. This bark is imported in pieces of six inches long, and one inch and a half in breadth. The epidermis is whitish, the substance compact, and the colour, when powdered, not unlike that of rhubarb. It is a powerful bitter, joined with an aroma, not much more pungent than cascarilla, having a portion of pure oil, which approaches in its nature to camphor. It seems also to possess a narcotic principle; and has been considered more powerful than the Peruvian bark, both as a tonic and antiseptic: the virtues reside more in its gummy than resinous extract; but both are extracted by warm water, together with the oily portion. The diseases in which this medicine has been employed are those in which the Peruvian bark has been useful. In intermittents it is generally inferior in efficacy; in low fevers, and those of the putrid kind, it has seemed superior. In head-achs, attended with fever, but arising from the stomach; in dysentery, and dyspepsia; it has been of great service. From various experiments, the Angustura bark seems to claim the highest rank as an antiseptic. An extract is made in the following manner:

Take' four ounces of the Angustura bark, put it into a flannel bag of a conical shape, pour upon this boiling water, and repeat it till the filtering liquor has but little taste or colour. Let the infusion be evaporated by a gentle heat, and thirteen drams and twenty grains of extract, of the full flavour of the bark, containing two drams of resinous matter, will remain. See Brande's Experiments and Observations on Angustura Bark.