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On the Use of Tar for Cattle swelled by eating Clover, and on Opium and other Preparations from Poppies.

By Major SPENCER COCHRANE, of Muirfield House, near Haddington, North Britain.

From the TRANSACTIONS of the SOCIETY for the Encou ragement of ARTS, MANUFACTURES, and COMMERCE.

Cows are frequently seized with violent swellings

from having been imprudently allowed to eat clover when wet. A gentleman recommended to me, as a cure, an egg-shell full of tar, immediately to be put down the creature's throat. In two instances of my own cattle I found it had the effect of laying the swelling in a few minutes. A neighbour of mine whose cow was supposed could not live five minutes, was, on application of the tar, unexpectedly recovered, to the great joy of the poor man.

After I commenced farmer, I unfortunately lost four horses, by a disorder, very frequent in this country, called the bats or gripes; some of them died in a few hours, and none of them were ill more than two days. For some years past I have given my horses in such cases a table-spoonful of tincture of opium, or liquid laudanum, and have since lost none. If the first dose given

in some liquid does not allay the violent pain and swelling, I administer a second spoonful, which I have hitherto, in all cases, found to have the desired effect, and generally in a very short time.

If I find the horse very hot and feverish, and sweating profusely, as is usually the case in this disease, I VOL. XIII.-SECOND SERIES.

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order him to be bled plentifully, and an ounce or more of nitre to be mixed, and administered with the laudanum, keeping the horse warm, and letting him be well rubbed round the belly.

A very considerable farmer near me, who has had a medical education, told me, a few days ago, that he had not lost a horse since he gave them laudanum.

Ten days ago I was equally fortunate in a trial of it on one of my sheep, which, half an hour after being washed with the rest of the flock, was taken so extremely ill, and swelled so much, that my herdsman supposed she could not live, having lost some of his own, which had apparently been in the same state. I immediately ordered half a handful of common salt to be dissolved in half an English pint of warm water, into which I put sixty drops of the laudanum, and poured it with difficulty down the animal's throat, which seemed nearly dead. For the first five minutes I had so little hopes of the sheep's recovery, that I ordered the man to get his knife ready to cut her throat; whilst he sharpened the instrument for such purpose, he observed the animal to move its jaw to a proper position, which had previously been much distorted; the eyes then began to quicken, and apparently to become at ease. In half an hour afterwards the sheep got on her legs, and remained standing for some time; a plentiful evacuation soon took place, the swelling subsided, she continued to recover, and in a few hours from the first attack began to eat and do well.

My intent in these communications is to render generally public what I have found so very beneficial. At this time, when horses and cattle are so extremely high

in price, every thing that can tend to preserve their lives, should be made known and put to trial.

I formerly noticed to you, that I had tried on a small scale, for several years, the culture of white poppies to prepare opium from them, and an extract or syrup of poppies; that I had raised a sufficient supply for myself and friends, and that my extract was equal in effect to any prepared from foreign opium. I recommend the poppy seeds to be sown in March, in drills.

Besides the advantages from the poppy heads as a medicine, the seeds yield a valuable oil. Two pounds of the seeds furnish by expression seven ounces of a pure bland oil, useful for portrait painting and other purposes. It has been proved in Holland to be equal inquality to fine sallad or olive oil, and it would probably be advantageous to propagate largely so valuable a plant.

Since my former communication I have had frequent opportunities of being fully convinced of the efficacy of laudanum, when applied in proper time, for the cure of the cholic in horses. When inflammation has taken place, which sometimes comes on very rapidly, its application will be too late. A few days since two of my draught horses were taken ill, one in the morning, the other in the evening. I believe the disorder originated from their having been allowed to drink too much water when warm. By using the laudanum in the manner I have recommended they both recovered, and were at their work again within twenty-four hours.

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grow the

poppy,

poppy, extract the opium from the heads, infuse it in spirits or brandy agreeably to the prescription in the Dispensatory, and thus prepare the laudanum myself, instead of purchasing it at the apothecary's. I consider my opium to be pure and unadulterated, and of course stronger, and more efficacious.

I have cured many persons of colds and coughs of long standing, by the following preparation or syrup.

Take half a pound of the heads of the large white poppy without any of the seeds, the heads just ripe and moderately dried, put them into three quarts of boiling water, let them boil gently, till the liquor is reduced to one quart, squeeze the poppies well in a cloth to strain out the liquor, boil the liquor again slowly to one pint and strain it, then add to it a pint of white wine vinegar, and one pound of raw sugar, let them boil gently to the consistence of a syrup, then add thereto spirit or elixir of vitriol to make it gratefully acid. The dose I have recommended for adults is one or two tea-spoonfuls, but never exceeding three, on going to bed. If the cough continues violent, two more may be taken the following morning. One dose sometimes cures, two generally, and I have never had occasion to employ it more than thrice. For young children one tea-spoonful is sufficient.

I recommended the use of this medicine to a surgeon in Haddington, and he told me it answered beyond his expectation.

An

An Account of the Method of cultivating the American
Cranberry (Vaccinium Macrocarpum), at Spring Grove.
By the Right Hon. Sir JOSEPH BANKS, Bart.
K. B. P. R. S. &c.

From the TRANSACTIONS of the HORTICULTURAL
SOCIETY of LONDON.

THE American Cranberry, the vaccinium macrocarpum, has for some years been cultivated with success at Spring Grove, and as the fruit of it is now become an object of some importance in the economy of the family, a short account of the management of this unimproved plant will, it is to be hoped, prove acceptable to the .Members of this useful Society, and not uninteresting to the public at large.

For the better understanding the intended communication it is necessary to premise, that a spring rises in a small grove within the precincts of Spring Grove, which is no doubt the origin of the name; this spring is carried in leaden pipes into the house, to which it affords an ample supply; the waste water is suffered to run through a small basin and a pond in the pleasure ground, before it escapes to Smallbury Green; to this constant supply of fresh water, though it is very small, the great luxuriancy with which water plants of all kinds suitable to this climate, succeed in the pond, is no doubt in some degree to be attributed.

In the middle of the basin, a small island has been formed, by supporting a box of oak upon posts driven into the bottom; in the centre of this pond, the waste water which used before to issue through a fountain, is

suffered

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