A CURE FOR SHEEP-ROT.

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 460, 29 April 1875, Page 2

A CURE FOR SHEEP-ROT.

In a pretty Alpine shrub, well-known in the ChillLin Andes, but not, as yet, cultivated in Europe, remarkable medicinal qualities have been discovered, in a curious accidental manner. A small flock of mountain sheep, suffering from a peculiar form of liver disease, was recently driven into a separate enclosure high up in the mountains, to keep them sepi rate from other flocks. There they were left to perish or improve, as it might turn out. To the surprise of the proprietor they all rapidly improved, and were eventually found to be perfectly cured. What could have produced the unexpected change, and caused appetite and strength to return in such a marvellous manner ? It certainly could not be the extremely scanty mountain grass. Being watched, it was found that they left the ordinary herbage untouched to browse upon the leaves mid young shoots of a shrub, of which the fence was* formed. This shrub was the Baldo.i fragrans,icommonly known as Boldu, the original Indian name. $ts foliage is brilliantly green, and the flowers, which are pale yellow, are bright and effective. (The flowers, leaves, or bark, when crushed, emit a string and fragrantly aromatic odour, from which the plant has received its specific name. An essential oil is also expressed from them, which is known as boldine. The expermentalists say that it contains an alkaloid that promotes healthy digestion, and acts directly upon the liver, like calomel, but without any of the bad results wi.ich over-doses of calomel induce. The French physicians who have .experimented on the action of boldine, and its value as a medicine, may be over sanguine, but they expect the most valuable results from its introduction to the European pharmacopoeias. Baldoa fragrans has opposite, ovate, short-stalked leaves, and the flowers appear in little auxiliary racemes, the male and female flowers bein^ oil different plants. It bears a fruit about the size of our common hawthorn, which is of pleaa-int flavour, and often eaten by the mountaineers. The bark is used by tanners, and the wood is preferred to any other for charcoal, possibly on account of the slight aromatic fragrance vMchit sometimes emits in burning. J