MEZEREON, the bark of claphne mezereurn, Lin.; daphne gnidum. Lin.; and daphne laureola, Lin. Natural order thymelacee. These three plants are small shrubs from 2 to 4 ft. high. Daphn,e mezereum has rose-red, sessile, fragrant flowers, in small clusters, preceding the deciduous leaves. It is indigenous to hilly and mountainous regions of Europe, extending to the Arctic circle and eastward to Siberia. The other two species grow in southern Europe, D. laureola, spurge laurel, has large evergreen leaves and yellowish-green flowers in axillary clusters. D. gnidum, spurge flax, has narrow, annual leaves, and small white flowers in terminal racemes. Mezereon bark occurs in e,ommerce in lono. bands about one-half an in. wide and one-twentieth an in. thick, folded and tied ?ogether in bundles, or rolled up into flat disks. The dried bark ia inodorous, but has a persistently acrid and burning taste. The bark of D. gnidum is darker, and that of D. laureola is more gray and has a greenish bast. They resemble mezereon in acridity. The root bark of the three species is the strongest, but the stem
bark is the more common. It is used as an adjunct to sarsaparilla in making the com pound decoction and the compound extract of that drug. Ancient and modern authori ties assio-n to mezereon irritant qualities, and it was long ago used as an emetic, purga tive, ch3lagogue, emmenagogue, and sudorific. It has produced narcotism and convul sions, acrid and blood-red urine, and death has sometimes followed its experimental use on animals. In medicinal doses the decoction causes salivation and increased cutaneous and mucous secretions, de,scribed as having a peculiar odor. A case is recorded of a girl upon whose cheek the fresh juice had been rubbed. This was followed by a vesic ular eruption, fever, internal disorders, and after a period of nine months, death. Not withstanding this, it is still used as a local irritant in the form of the juice, and that of an ointment It once had a reputation for curing skin diseases.