and perhaps worthy of a place in the shops*. For some interesting information concerning the powers of this species of Kalmia, and also those of Kalmia angustifolia, or Narrow-leaved Kalmia, commonly called Lambkill, &c., I beg leave to refer the reader to Dr. George G. Thomas's Inaugural Dissertation concerning these plants, published at Philadelphia, in 1802.

LAURUS Sassafras. In the First Part of this work, I have made mention of the oil of this vegetable, and have hinted at its affinity to camphort. The resemblance between the two articles is further evinced by this circumstance, that the oil of Sassafras, when externally applied to the body in rheumatic and gouty affections, is remarkable for its power of shifting the pain from its original seat; but not always to the advantage of the patient. Like camphor, therefore, it ought ever to be used, in such affections, with great caution. I believe, however, that it is a medicine well adapted to many cases of rheumatism, in its chronic stage; though even here it may prove injurious.

THE Phytolacca decandra, well known by the names of Poke, Garget, American Nightshade, &c., is one of the most common North-American plants. It is, certainly, a plant of great activity, though the young shoots, when boiled, may be eaten with impunity, and are justly deemed a great delicacy. By many, they are preferred to the finest asparagus.

SOME of the medicinal powers of this plant have long been known. The ripe berries, infused in brandy,

* A few drops of this tincture, poured upon the body of a large and vigorous rattle-snake, in my possession, killed the reptile in a very short time. It violently affected the animal, almost instantaneously.

† Pages 19, 20.

or wine, especially the former, are a popular remedy for rheumatism, in many parts of the United-States. This tincture of Poke (Tinctura Phytolacca) is certainly a valuable medicine in cases of chronic rheumatism, and other similar affections. Like the volatile tincture of gum Guaiacum, it has sometimes done injury; as might indeed be expected from an active medicine, in the hands of the injudicious or ignorant. It may, I believe, be safely exhibited in most of the cases of rheumatism, in which the Guaiacum has been used with safety and advantage. In the rheumatic affections, which frequently succeed to the venereal disease, it seems to be a more valuable medicine than the Guaiacum, and may be advantageously employed, especially along with calomel, or other preparations of mercury. I have employed the ripe juice of the berries, inspissated to the state of an extract, in some cases of scrophula. The juice, in the same state, has, I am informed, been advantageously employed in cases of cancerous ulcers. These ulcers were dressed with the extract, spread upon linen, or upon the leaf of the plant. But the juice of the leaves, applied in the same manner, is said to have been found more efficacious. I am inclined to repose some credit in the testimonies which I have collected concerning the utility of the extract of Poke, in the cases just mentioned.

THE reader may consult, with advantage, An Inaugural Botanico-Medical Dissertation on the Phytolacca Decandra of Linnæus. By Benjamin Shultz*. As a repository of facts concerning the Phytolacca, this dissertation is valuable, and worthy of attention. But the subject is still, in a great measure, a new one.

* Philadelphia: 1795.

ARUM triphyllum*. The recent root of this plant boiled in milk, so as to communicate to the milk a strong impregnation of the peculiar acrimony of the plant, has been advantageously employed in cases of consumption of the lungs. I have heard of one case (that of a negro man in Virginia) who was completely cured of a pulmonary consumption by continuing to take, for a considerable time, milk in which the root of the Arum had been boiled. It would certainly be worth trying this simple prescription in some cases of a disease which so generally baffles the powers of all our medicines, and the skill of the best physicians. I am not ignorant, that within the period of a very few years, the disease of consumption has been supposed to be deprived of some of its terrors; but I must add, with real regret, that notwithstanding the high encomiums which have been bestowed upon the Digitalis as a remedy for this disease, by some distinguished medical philosophers, and practitioners†, I have employed this vegetable in a considerable number of cases of consumption, and, upon the whole, with very inconsiderable permanent advantage. In one case, in

deed, it seemed to perform a cure of what I deemed genuine phthisis: in several other cases, it evidently and remarkably affected the pulse, and moderated the urgency of the symptoms; but the patients ultimately fell victims to the disease. Some of the patients to whom I exhibited the Digitalis were so far advanced in the disease, that little benefit could have been expected from medicine of any kind: but others of them again were in the earlier stages of the disease, and consequently in a situation that seemed to admit of permanent relief, from

*Part First, p. 21, 49, 50.

† Mr. Saunders, Dr. Thomas Beddoes, Dr. N. Drake, &c. &c.

this or from other medicines. Yet, with the exception of the case already hinted at, I have not been able to effect a single cure by means of Digitalis. I am even inclined to think, that I have, in several instances *, more considerably arrested the progress of phthisis pulmonalis by means of emetics (particularly the sulphat of zinc, exhibited in the manner recommended by Dr. Moseley †) than by Digitalis. Candour compells me to add, that my own experience with the Digitalis in consumption has been less than that of several other practitioners in Philadelphia, some of whom entertain a more favourable opinion of the medicine, as a remedy for consumption, than I do.

DR. STORCK, of Vienna, has called the attention of physicians to a species of Clematis, or Virgin's-Bower, the Clematis rectat. This is a very acrid and active plant, which Storck recommended in cancerous, venereal and other malignant ulcers, and also in obstinate pains of the head, and bones, and in other diseases. An infusion of the flowers or leaves, and an extract of the plant were used internally. The powder was sprinkled upon the ulcers, where it was found to act as an excellent escharotic and detergent.

I Do not know that the Clematis recta is a native of any part of America. I have been led to mention the plant in this place, because the United-States afford us some species of the same genus, which, from a few experiments that I have made with them, promise to be useful in medicine. The species which I have more par

* Especially in the Pennsylvania Hospital, in the summer of 1803.

† A Treatise upon Tropical Diseases, &c. &c. p. 541, &c. London: 1792. Upright Virgin's-Bower. Storck calls the plant Flammula Jovis. It is a native of Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, and France.

ticularly attended to, are Clematis crispa, and Clematis Viorna. The leaves of these species are extremely acrid, and may be found useful in chronic rheumatism, palsy, old ulcers; and, in fine, in all the diseases in which Storck found the Clematis recta useful*. As they are very active plants, it is necessary to use them in small doses. I have received some obscure information concerning the employment of one of the species (I think C. crispa), in Virginia, as a remedy in some particular affections.

DR. SCHOEPF has made no mention of these plants, but has proposed the employment of Clematis Virginiana, as a substitute for Clematis rectat. The C. Virginiana is a much more, feeble plant than either of the three other species which have been mentioned.

§ II. TOPICAL STIMULANTS.

THE Pyrola umbellata, already mentioned, may be noticed under this head. The bruised leaves of this plant, when externally applied, sometimes induce redness, vesication and desquamation of the skin. But this is by no means a constant operation of the vegetable; and, therefore, it does not seem particularly worthy of our attention, in this point of view.

RHUS radicanst. The following observations, relative to the deleterious property of this common plant,

* See Elements of Botany, &c. Part Third. p. 70.

† Materia Medica Americana, &c. Praefatio. p. xiii.

See Part First, p. 23, 50, 51, 52.