472. Tonga.

472. TONGA.—A drug introduced under this name has been found to be a mixture of bark, leaves, and woody fibers, tied into bundles by means of the inner bark of the cocoanut tree. The bark comes from Premna taitensis (nat. ord. Verbenaceae), a shrubby tree having a sweet and slightly astringent inner bark, containing little volatile oil, etc. The fibrous material comes from Rhaphidophora vitiensis (nat. ord. Araceae), a creeper having a stem about. the size of a quill, containing potassium chloride, a volatile alkaloid, tongine, etc. From this mixture a fl'ext. is prepared which has proved efficient in neuralgia. Dose of fl'ext.: 1 fl. dr. (4 mils).


A Manual of Organic Materia Medica and Pharmacognosy, 1917, was written by Lucius E. Sayre, B.S. Ph. M.