Concentrated organic medicines : being a practical exposition of the therapeutic properties and clinical employment of the combined proximate medicinal constituents of indigenous and foreign plants : to which is added a brief history of crude organic reme

Front matter

THIS BOOK,

He died suddenly, fell dead as he was walking on the street, in Monticello, Ga., on Saturday, October 7th, 1893.

The following notice of him appeared in the Jasper County News, October 12th, 1893:

CHAPTER II. CONSTITUENTS Of' PLANTS

Acids — Alkaloid? — Indifferent or neutral substances — Cellulose — Xylogen — Cuticular or cork substance — Protein — Amylum — Dextrine — Sugars — Pectin — Gum — Mucilage — Muciresins — Viscin — Inorganic elements — Fixed oils — Wax — Volatile oils — Camphors — Resins — Oleo-Rcsins — Gum-Resins — Resinoids — Caoutchouc — Coloring matters — Extractive substances or neutrals — Humus — Apothem Fermentation — Decomposition — Putrefaction — Amygdalin — Ernulsin — etc., etc.

Chapter III. Concentrated Medicine?

Officinal preparations — Infusions — Decoctions — Extracts — Aqueous, Alcoholic, Hydro-alcoholic, Inspissated, Fluid, etc. — their liability to decomposition — of variable strength — frequently inert, etc. — Concentrated Medicines Proper — their advantage— uniform and defiuite in strength — not liable to change — methods of adminis tratiou, etc., etc

Part II. Concentrated Medicines Proper

Their therapeutic and clinical history — Senecin — Asclepin — Golsemin — Macrotin — Ampelopsin — Gcranin — Populin— Cypripedin— Chimaphiiiu — Dioscorcin — Cheionin — Helonin— Leptandrin— Digitalin — Khusin — Baptisin — Podophyllin— Myricin— Euonymin — Alnuin — Viburnin — Cornin — Rumin — Caulophyllin — Jalapin — Phytohu-in — Hyoscyamin — Stillingin — Lupulin — Veratrin — Eupatorin Perfo. — Eupatoria Purpu. — Corydalin — Juglandin — Trilliin — Scutellarin— Apocynin — Irisin — Hydrastin — Hamameliu — Euphorbin — Lycopin — Fraserin— Xanthoxylin — Aconiiiu — C©lo« eynthin — Rhein — Atropin— Boptisin — etc., etc.

TABLE OF AVERAGE DOSES.

Powders. grs.

Ahmin £ to 10

Ampelopsin 2 to 5

Apocjnin i to 3

Asclepin 1 to 5

Baptism 1 to 3

Caulophyllin 2 to 6

Ceraseiii 2 to 10

Chelonin 2 to 5

Chimaphilin 2 to 6

Collinsonin 2 to 6

Coram 2 to 5

Corydalin 1 to 3

■Cypripcdin 2 to 4

Digitalin £ to i

Dioscorein 2to 6

Euonymin 1 to 4

Euphovbin 1 to 3

Eupatorin Perfo 1 to 4

Eupatorin Purpu..... 2 to 5

Fraserin 2 to 10

•Gdsemin i to 2

<3<?ranin„ 2 to 5

Hamameliu lto 3

Helonin 2 to 6

Hydrastin lto 3

Hyoscyamin i to £

Irisin 1 to 3

Jalapin 2 to 5

Juglandin 2 to 10

Leptandrin 2 to 5

Lupulin 1 to 4

Lycopin 1 to 4

Macrotin £ to 2

jVIenispermin 1 to 5

.IVlyricin 2 to 5

Podophyllin \ to 3

Populin 2 to 5

Prunin lto 3

Phytolacin i to 3

Rhusia lto 3

llumin lto 3

Powders. grs.

Sanguinariu i to 2

Senecin.. ." 2 to 6

Scutell aria 2 to 5

Stillingin 2 to ft

Smilacin 2 to 6

Strychnia s\ to ,',

Trilliin 2 to ft

Veratrin i to 1

Viburniu 2 to 5

Xanthoxylia 2 to 5

i

CONCENTRATED TINCTURES.

gtt.

Apocynum .. 2 to 10

Collinsonia 6 to 20

Digitalis 1 to 4

Euonymus 2 to 10

Eupatorium Purpu 2 to 10

Gelseminum 5 to 20

Hyoscyamus 5 to 20

RhusGlab 2 to 10

Scutellaria 2 to 10

Smilax 10 to 20

Senecio 2 to 10

Veratrum 1 to 8

Xauthoxy luni 2 to 5

OILS.

Capsicum i to 2

Erigerou 2 to 10

Lobelia £ to 2

Solidago 2 U> 5

Stillingia i to 2

Xanthoxylum 2 t j 5

Con. Comp. Stillingia Alterative 2 to 10

Wine Tinct. Lobelia :—

As an expectorant 2 *.*» 10

As an emetic 3 " i "*

Preface

He is said to be a bold author who writes a preface, Nevertheless, undaunted by the fates of our predecessors, we voluntarily submit to the allegation of hardihood, and bow our head submissively in deference to the omniscient wisdom of the critics.

We remember to have somewhere read a good story of an artist, who, after painting a beautiful picture, bestowing upon it much time and labor, exposed it for criticism in the market place. Beside the picture he placed brushes and a pallet of colors, with a request that all good judges of the art of painting would remedy those defects they might discover which had escaped his own eye.

Nothing could be more gratifying to the innate vanity of such as considered themselves capable of deciding upon the merits or demerits of all they saw, than this general invitation. Every one who looked upon the canvass discovered something essentially wrong in the composition, which was retouched, according to his individual idea of the sublime or the beautiful. The brush was no sooner laid down than another took it up ; it was, therefore constantly applied ; but when the author called at evening to examine and admire the friendship which had been manifested for his reputation as an artist, not a single vestige of the original design remained. Although all who chose had contributed the pigment they considered absolutely indispensible to perfect the picture, the next day it was unanimously declared that the painter was a man of no ingenuity or knowledge of his profession.

In the arrangement of the little volume now submitted to the profession, the writer has consulted his own notions of propriety, striving to keep in view, at the same time, the best interests of his readers. That it has its imperfections, will be apparent to all who do him the honor to peruse it. Yet we can not emulate the generosity of the artist by supplying the materials with which to remedy apparent defects, although conscious that had the original materials been placed in abler and more experienced hands, a more perfect work would have been secured. Like the artist, we may extend a general invitation to the profession to modify the peculiarities of detail, not for universal application, but for the purpose of meeting the requirements of individual circumstances and necessities.

We have not sought to charm the sense by elegance of diction, nor aimed to delude the reason by ingeniously wrought hypotheses ; but simply to present, in a concise manner, an array of scientific facts which we hope will be of practical utility to the profession. We invite attention to the subject matter of our treatise, rather than to a critical examination of the language in which it is embodied. In treating of crude organic remedies, constituents of plants, and officinal preparations, we have presented many new, and, it may be, startling facts ; but they are none the less worthy, for this reason, of the serious and impartial consideration of the profession. Therapeutical and pharmaceutical science are at the very foundation of practical medicine, and he who perfects their principles will be the acknowledged benefactor of his race. The field ot organic chemical science has been, as yet, but little tilled, and much ground still remains wherein progressive explorations and manipulative skill have inexhaustible resources vet to unfold, But notwithstanding the existence of hidden mines of therapeutic wealth yet undeveloped, much has already been accomplished in bringing forth from the secret recesses of nature's store-house the means wherewith to practice the art of healing. Organic chemistry has solved the problem of vegetable organisms, defined the characteristics that distinguish the physical from the thera- P'Utic, isolated the motor-excitant constituents from their non-medicinal investure, and furnished the physician with the means of cure, defined in sensible properties, of uniform therapeutic power, and of specific value in fulfilling the indications of disease. The isolation and re-combination of the active constituents of medicinal plants is one of the most important features of modern pharmacy, Instead of isolating a single principle and rejecting the remainder, thus doing violence to the therapeutic integrity of the plant, the aggregate medicinal constituents are now combined in one preparation, and thus we have a pharmaceutical compound of nature's own preparing. Hereby are secured the various therapeutic powers of which the plant, from a consideration of its physiological effects, is known to be possessed.

The reader will perceive, in the second part of tins vomme, that we have ignored the medical casuistry of those authors who have attempted to disprove, with specious arguments, the existence of certain classes of therapeutic powers. We have faithfully recorded our carefully made observations of the physiological effects of the remedies, and we hold that, when a medicine produces a specific physiological effect, it should be accredited with the power known to be requisite to produce it. It is not for us to determine whether this result be primary or secondary, so long as we can rely upon the certainty of the remedy in fulfilling the indications for which we exhibit it. As Podophyllin promotes the catamenial flow, we award it the possession of an emmenagogue power. As Veratrin lessens the force and frequency of the pulse, when abnormally excited, we term it an arterial sedative, although the question might arise whether the ^eiiative influence is the result of primary or reflex action. In a practical point of view it is sufficient for as to know that it may be relied upon for fulfilling this indication. Gelsemin, Viburnin, Dioscorein and Lobe- :?(ia lelax spasm and control the action of the muscular |jsystom, hence we term them, and we think with pro- Y>rie'*y, anti-spasmodics. But as we have to deal with tne jwactical rather than the theoretical, we leave the

PREFACE II

solution of the modus operandi of medicines to those whose forte lies in framing plausible hypotheses.

In the second chapter, in giving the chemical formulas of the various constituents, it will be observed that we have followed the earlier method of single atoms Most of the facts there adduced in relation to vegetable constituents have been elucidated by recent analyses. The history of the resinoid, neutral, and muciresin principles is entirely original, never before having appeared in print, and is the fruit of personal research. We have to acknowledge but little indebtedness to other authors. In some few instances we have consulted Berzelius, Rhind, and other vegetable physiologists and chemists, when controversial points arose, preferring, however, to rely upon recent personal analyses and experiments.

To Adolph Behr, A.lVf ., the gentlemanly and accomplished chemist attached to the laboratory of B. Keith & Co., we are under especial obligations. He has kindly afforded us access to valuable private notes, and materially facilitated our labors by timely furnishing important facts and suggestions. The profession are deeply indebted to the labors of this gentleman for having so successfully elevated the standard of therapeutical and pharmaceutical science.

Our thanks are likewise due to the enterprising publishers, Messrs. B. Keith & Co., for the liberal manner in which they have gotten up this volume, a compliment which, together with the approbation of the profession, rewards us amply for the labor bestowed.

Some few typographical errors have undoubtedly crept in, consequent upon family afflictions and professionai cares, by which our attention has been much diverted, but we trust to the kindly consideration of our readers to overlook the mechanical defects. The text we have carefully revised, and believe it to be free from any serious imperfections.

And now we commit our little volume to the hands of a conservative, yet liberal profession, confident that they will impartially consider the substance of our exposition, and neither approve nor condemn except in accordance with the rigid requirements of experimental science.

If we have herein recorded a single additional truth that shall be deemed worthy of being employed in rearing the superstructure of medical science; if we have suggested aught that shall enable our professional brethren to smooth a single wrinkle in the pillow ot care, or check the coursing of a single tear down the furrowed cheek of suffering humanity, we will accept the token, with gratitude, as the full measure of our reward. G. C.

New York, Sept., 1858.

I f

Preface To The Second Edition

The urgent demands of the profession rendering a second edition of the present volume necessary, the author avails himself of the opportunity to express his sincere acknowledgments for the favor with which his feeble attempt to elevate the standard of Materia Medica has been received. Progression is the order of the day, and in no department of medical science is its operations more manifest than in that of therapeutics. The writer hopes to see, at no distant day, the formation of an indigenous Materia Medica, competent for the wants of all, and at once the pride and glory of our common country.

To the present volume has been added the history of several agents not unknown to the profession, but for the first time presented in their present form. The characteristic difference is the same as that of the other concentrated preparations described in this work, namely, the isolation and recombination of the several

14 PT1EFACE.

active constituents resident in each plant. Their clinical history has been drawn from competent sources, upon which the writer has been compelled to rely in the absence of satisfactory personal observation. The authority, however, is as much entitled to credence as would be the vouching of the author's own experience.

This addition has been made in the form of addenda, with a view to an ultimate revision of the entire work together with the rendition of whatever valuable original information upon the subject of organic remedies may have been at such time developed. The writer is well aware that such revision is much needed, and trusts that • his life and health may be spared to the completion of his ultimate design.

A word in reference to the doses of the concentrated remedies. Complaints have reached the author that of some of the preparations the doses indicated were too large, as of the Gelsemin, for instance. In the course

of the work the writer frequently referred to the fact, that the doses named were such as he employed in the locality where he then resided, and that while the properties- of the remedies would remain the same under all circumstances, the ji Igment of the practitioner must decide the propriety of quantity, repetition, and continuance. Since the pi >sent work was written, the author lias had several months' experience in practice in the South, and has practically tested the fact, that in warn climates the doses of sedatives, narcotics, relaxants, &c.y require to be diminished from 25 to 50 per cent., while stimulants and tonics require a proportionate increase. For instance, in the locality where the present lines are written, one-fourth of a grain of Gelsemin is equivalent in effect to one-half grain in the latitude of New York. On tn« contrary, three grains of Podophyllin are required here where two would answer the purpose at the North. The properties and employment of a remedy being given, it remains for the practitioner to graduate the dose. This can never be stated with such precision as to meet the necessities of every case, but only approximative^, time, circumstance, and idiosyncrasy forming the standard by which to judge.

Again this little volume is committed to the profession, with the assurance that the author holds himself strictly responsible for whatever of error as well as of truth may be incorporated in its pages, frankly inviting clinical criticism of all he may have said in relation to the properties and employment of the remedies considered. None are claimed to be specifics in the cure of disease, but all are claimed to possess

specific properties, manifested, however, not uniformly, butin -specific conditions. The condition ascertained, and adaptation of a suitable remedy being had, a manifestation of its specific powers may reasonably be expected. That those of the profession into whose hands this volume may fall, will receive and test the opinions and statements put forth by the author, and render their verdict in the same spirit in which it was indicted is the wish of

Their obedient servant,

GROVER COE,

Wilmington, N. C, June, 1860.

Chapter I. 0kt7de Organic Remedies

Objections to their Use — Of Uncertain Value — Frequently Inert —

Facts of Analysis, etc.

The essential pre-requisites to the successful employment of Organic Remedies, are the possession of specific therapeutic powers, uniformity of strength, non-liability to deteriorate . by age, and convenience of administration. Such remedies, either simple or compound, may be appropriately termed positive medical agents. Positive, not because they will infallibly cure disease, but because their sensible properties are definite, uniform, and certain. Such are the remedies of which it is proposed to treat in the present volume. In order to demonstrate the correctness of this appellation, it will bo necessary to point out the deficiencies of crude medicines, and, by contrast, make apparent the superior claims of concentrated remedies to our confidence. To this end we shall endeavor to adduce a few facts in support of the exceptions we have taken to the use of crude remedies at the head of this chapter.

We have charged that they are of uncertain remedial value. By this we mean to be understood, that plants of the same gpecies vary infinitely as to the amount of proximate principles inherent in them. The fact has been amply demonstrated bj o analysis. The causes we will endeavor to explain. Vegetable organisms may be said to be possessed of two constitutions, physical and therapeutical, blended into one system. By the term physical we would designate the structural apparatus of the plant; and the therapeutic to consist of the various secretions of this apparatus. By drawing a nicer line of distinction, we may divide the products of this apparatus into nutritive and medicinal. The constituents of this apparatus we term lignin, liber, &c; of the nutritive products, amylum, gluten, sugar, mucilage, and albumen constitute the principal ; while therapeutic constituents are variously denominated resins, resinoids, gum-resins, balsams, oils, alkaloids, neutrals, camphors, &c. In order to ensure the perfect development of the plant, it is evident that certain conditions of soil, climate, season, &c, must be present. The soil must be supplied with the various inorganic elements of the plant, and afford a sufficiency of water, in order that a proper degree of diluency of the various juices may be maintained. The climate must be such as will afford the requisite temperature, while the season must be of sufficient length to enable the plant to complete i ts numerous processes, and perfect its varions parts.

Any departure from these conditions will be followed by a corresponding deviation in the constituents of the plant. Poverty of the soil will starve the plant of its necessary food. Too high a temperature will urge on the various functions of the plant to complete its labors prematurely. Too low a temperature will retard the organic energies of the plant, and prolong its labors into the frosts of winter, which there will shut out all further chances of maturity. Excess of moisture, accompanied, as it must necessarily be, with a corresponding deficiency of sunliglit and warmth, will exercise a strong influence over the future history of the plant. The burning sun of the summer drought, will, with insatiable thirst, drink dry every pore of the yielding soil, and the thirsting plants will droop and wither on the parched bosom of the parent earth. Thus do we behold the inevitable results which attend the working of nature's laws. Adaptation is the law of the universe, and in no lio-ht is it more vividly portrayed, than in its relation to the growth and development of the vegetable world. There are sermons in stones, and books in running brooks, saith the proverb. The vegetable kingdom may be called the very printing press of nature, each verdant leaf a type that prints a thousand varied impressions upon the quickened tablets of the reverent mind. The " still small voice " of creative wisdom is audible in all of nature's works, but the voiceless language of plants 6peaks most unassumingly in praise of " Him who doeth all things well." No study is more instructive, and at the same time interesting, than that of the laws which govern organic srrowth ; and none more conducive to our best interest in this life. As the creatures of those laws, we must, of necessity, understand them, that»we may be enabled to yield the allegiance implied in their establishment. By studying the physiology of plants, then, we may derive much instruction for the proper government, of our own bodies. The facts set forth above in relation to the causes which influence the growth and development of plants, may teach us a useful lesson in regard to the conditions necessary to preserve the integrity of our own systems.

Dependent upon the, causes above enumerated, plants are oftentimes entirely inert, so far as regards the possession of any therapeutic power. The vicissitudes of the climate and season may have so interrupted or suspended the secretive functions of the plant, that not a single proximate principle has been perfected. On the other hand, the absence of proper elements in the soil may have been the sole cause of the defect. Other causes might be enumerated, chief amongst which is, the gathering of a plant at an improper season. By so doing, the development of the proximate principles is arrested while they are yet, so to speak, in a transition state. The elaborating processes of the plant are arrested, perhaps, at the very moment when the various medicinal constituents are approximating the perfected principle. In such an event it is most certain that nothing of therapeutic value can attach to the plant.

In order that the reader may more fully understand our meaning, we will endeavor to be mOre explicit. For this purpose, we will enter briefly into the physiological history of plants. To illustrate the subject, we will choose a perennial,, deciduous plant of the temperate zone. The life of such a plant may be said to consist of api indefinite number of completed cycles periodically conjoined. These cycles are marked by four eras, spring, summer, autumn, and winter. During the winter months the organic energies of the plant lie dormant, nor are they awakened from their hibernal slumber except by the dawning of the succeeding era. This period illustrates the static condition of organic activity most forcibly. It is emphatically the season of rest, and may be appropriately termed the sleep of plants. Presuming that the labors of the previous seasons have completed the object of their mission, it is philosophical to suppose the plant to be complete in all its parts. Gathered at this season, and subjected to the searching powers of analysis, the manipulative skill of the chemist will penetrate each well-stored cell, and bring from their secret hiding places the various constituents of the organic body. Isolated, they stand forth as fractional representatives of the different constitutions of the plant — elementary parts of a compound system. This is the proper season to select such a plant, in order to determine its chemical constituency. This is the proper season to gather it for medicinal use ; and this the season to collect it as timber for the purposes of the builder. Let us note the changes which follow an awakening of its latent forces. Now it may be compared to a well-stocked storehouse, wherein all the rich harvestings of the previous season are carefully laid by for future use. Let us watch how the present store may add in turn to the capital stock. The snows have melted under the thermal breath of returning spring, and gone to swell the volume of the turbid streams. The rigid, frozen earth has thrown off the icy chains that bound it in the embrace of winter, and its bosom swells with grateful pride as it drinks in the rich in* ispiring draughts of warm sunlight. The gentle showers descend, and the quickened soil presents, in each liberated pore,

.itfJDE ORGANIC REMEDIES. 21

a willing reservoir. The time has now arrived for the resumption of organic activity on the part of the plant. The conditions necessary to this manifestation are, the presence of certain external stimuli. These consist of certain nutritious matters contained in the soil, water, atmospheric gases, electricity, and its allotropic conditions, light and heat. The stimuli of the soil are first available, being rendered so by the presence of water, and impelled by the electrical forces. The nutritive elements of the soil consist of carbon, silex, magnesia, lime, soda, potass, sulphur, the oxides of iron, alumina, etc. Water is the necessary vehicle of the nutritive elements of plants; but it is also decomposed, and its components, hydrogen arid oxygen, enter into the structure of the plant. Carbon is also derived from the atmosphere, in the form of carbonic acid gas. The other elements afforded by the atmosphere, are, oxygen, both in its combined and simple form, and nitrogen. Before the nutritive matters of the soil can be appropriated by the plant, it is necessary that they should be in a state of solution. This is mainly effected by water. The roots, by means of minute vessels attached to their extremities, termed spongioles, now absorb the juices from the moist soil, and these, ascending, mingle with those already in the stem. These juices constitute the sap, so-called, of the plant. It holds, in solution, the proper nutritious substances which go to add to the volume of the plant, and also affords the necessary material for the reparation of its expended fluids. T^hat it deposits some of its nutritive materials in its ascent, is undoubtedly true ; but, of necessity, a certain portion must, be conveyed to the extremities of its branches, in order that the gemmules, or buds, may receive the food necessary to their development, and the formation of leaves. The sap, in its ascent, has performed certain changes in the constituent principles of the plant, which, in the elucidation of our subject, it is important for us to notice. It has dissolved out a greater portion of the contents of the living cell, reduced them to a condition of solubility, ,and commingled them in one heterogenous mass. This we hold to be the established advent of the first era in the annual history of the plant.

Out of the ascending sap each part of the plant absorbs the material requisite for its nourishment. Following it in its ascent, we shall find that, as it successively reaches the buds,, they swell, expand, and develope into leaves and flowers. The development of the leaves gives rise to the establishment of new functions on the part of the plant, which now will play a conspicuous part in its future history. Taking from the sap such materials as are necessary to the completion of this structure, they combine them with others drawn from the atmos* phere, and appropriate the perfected constituents to the completion of their own apparatus. They are now in a condition to perform their share of the labor imposed by the establishment of organic activity, and to assist in the consummation of its object. Leaves have been denominated the lungs of plants.. The similitude is correct, so far as regards the object, which is mutual , but will not apply to their functions. While the office of the lung is to absorb oxygen and give off carbonic acid,, that of the leaf is to absorb carbonic acid and give off oxygen. In both instances the object is the preparation of nutritive ma-- erials for the purpose of organic growth and reparation.

We now have a period of organic activity which, at its culmination, will complete the first era. This is the final elaboration in the leaf of the various nutritive elements drawn from the soil and atmosphere, and their descent into the permanent structure of the plant. The fluid which, in its ascent, was called sap, has now, by its elaboration in the leaf, been converted into what is termed the proper juice of the plant. It is a highly elaborated, viscid fluid, composed of various rudimentary compounds, which, when reduced to perfected principles, will be recognised as starch, gluten, sugar, resins, gum, oils, alkaloids, resinoids, etc. The first era closes with what might properly be termed the completion of the digestive processes of the plant. The second era will comprise the period during which the nutritive apparatus of the plant makes appropriation of the duly elaborated materials. ' During this period the plant more sensibly increases in volume, new repositories are formed, and new stores laid ill for a future season.

We would not be understood to imply that this is exclusively the period for the manifestation of these changes. On the contrary, we distinctly state, that these various phenomena are being carried forward during the entire period of organic activity. But we wish simply to impress the fact, that this is essentially the period when the organic stimulus is in its greatest force. During this, the second era, is the proper season for gathering leaves for medicinal use. They are now charged with the proper juice of the plant in a highly elaborate form. Should we wait until after the descent of the proper juice into the stem of the plant, we shall find that nothing but an exhausted apparatus is left behind. True, the leaf may preserve all its outward semblances of vitality, yet shall we find on anatysis, that the therapeutic constituents are mostly wanting. The cellular tissue will be found deserted of its nutritive and medicinal substances, and their presence partially replaced with air A tree cut down during the second era, will be found useless for all the purposes of timber. The vital forces being mainly distributed to the periphery, that is, to the leaves, together with a greater portion of the vital constituents of the plant, the stem will be found to be deprived of too great a proportion of the preservative principles to enable it to resist decay. The alburnum commences a rapid decomposition, giving rise to a generation of worms, which, in turn, eat into the duramen or heart, and thus complete the destruction of the stem. We are assured by a gentleman from North Carolina, that a stem cut from a pine tree in the month of May, and placed in contact with the trunk of a healthy growing pine, will destroy it in the course of the season. The worms generating in the severed stem will pass to the living tree, and rapidly compass its destruction. We have seen the monarch of our northern forests, the lordly oak, when felled in June, pass into a state of complete decay in a space of from four to eight weeks.