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Show 472 ALMOND TREE. ALMOND TREE. trees which produce the sweet and bitter almonds, andverylittle betwixt the kernels themselves ; and it is said that the same tree has, by difference in culture, afforded both. The almondis a flattish kernel, of a white colour, and of a soft sweet taste, or a disagreeable bitter one. The skins of bothsorts are thin, brownish, unpleasant, and covered with an acrid powdery substance. They are very apt to become rancid on keeping, and to be preyed on byinsects, which eat out the internal part, leaving the almond to appearance entire. To these circumstances regard ought to be had in the choice of them. Sweet almonds are of greater use in food than as medicine, but they are reckoned to afford little nouris hment; and when eaten in substance are not easy of digesti on, unless thoroughly comminuted. They are supposed, on account of their unctuous quality, to obtund acrimonious Juices in the prime vie : peeled Sweet almonds, eaten six or eight at a time, sometimes give present relief in the heartburn. Bitter almonds have been found poisono us to dogs and some’ other animals; and a water distilled from them, when made of a certain degree of strength, has had the same effects. Nevere theless, when eaten, they appear innocent to most men, and are every day used in cookery, on account oftheir aereeable flax vour; but there are some habits in which the diallast quantity produces urticaria, and other unpleasant symptoms. The simiube tant induced Mr. Schrader to suppose that bitter é __ uited prussic acid, and he verified his conjecture by analysis. Since that time it has been found that this acid exists but in a partieular state, in all the bitter poisonous vegetables,: and that inits pure state it i S poisonous. Both sorts of almonds yield, on expression, a large quan tity of oil, which Separates likewise upon boiling the water, and is gradually collected on the surface The almonds in oils obtained by expression from both sorts of almonds are in their sensible qualities the same. They should be perfectly free from smell and taste, and possess the other pro perties of fixed oils. ye ¢ . re i MEDICAL USE . The general virtues of thes e oils are, to blunt -acrimon ious humours, and to soften and relax the soli ds: hence their use in= ternally in tickling coug hs, heat of urine, pains and inflamma. AT3 tions ; and externally, in tension andrigidity of particular parts. On triturating almonds with water, the oil and water unite together, by the mediation of the amylaceous matter of the kernel, and form an unctuous milky liquor, called an emulsion, which participates in some degree of its emollient virtue, but havethis advantage above the pure oil, that they may be given in acute or inflammatory disorders, without danger of the ill effects which the oil.might sometimes produce; since emulsions do not turn rancid or acrimonious byheat, as all the oils of this kind in a little time do. As the bitter almond imparts its peculiar taste when treated in this way, the sweet almondsalone are employed in making emulsions. Several unctuous and resinous substances, of themselves not miscible with water, may, by trituration with almonds, be easily mixed with it into the form of an emulsion; and are thus ex- cellently fitted for medicinal use. In this form camphor, and the resinous purgatives, may be commodiously taken. It has been a common practice to dissolve from half an ounce to an ounce, or more, of gum arabic in the water used for making the emulsions; and to make patients drink freely of them, while blisters are applied to the body, in order to prevent strangury ; and to order them to be usedin cases of gravel, and of inflammation of the bladder or urethra; and in heat of urine from virulent gonorrhea or other causes. Camphor, resin of jalap, and other resinous substances, by being triturated with almonds, become miscible with water, and more mild and pleasant than they were before; and therefore they are frequently ordered to be rubbed with them, and made Up into pills or boluses, with the addition of some conserve or gum arabic mucilage; or they are incorporated with watery liquors into the form of an emulsion. Formerly the seeds of the lettuce, of the cucumber, of the white poppy, and of a number of other plants, were employed for making emulsions ; but now in this country the sweet al- monds supply the place of all the rest. The bitter almonds are not so much used as they were for. merly, because they have been found to destroy some sorts of animals: this effect was related by the ancients, but believed to befictitious, because when. eaten by men theyappear to be innocent, and to produce no deleterious effects. However, the facts related by Wepfer in his Treatise de Cicuta Aquatica, |