Volume 1

Drugs and medicines of North America : a publication devoted to the historical and scientific discussion of botany, pharmacy, chemistry and therapeutics of the medical plants of North America, their constituents, products and sophistications ... v. 1-2; [Apr. 1884-June 1887].

Date:
1884-1887. [Cincinnati, Lloyd Library, 1930-31]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Drugs and medicines of North America : a publication devoted to the historical and scientific discussion of botany, pharmacy, chemistry and therapeutics of the medical plants of North America, their constituents, products and sophistications ... v. 1-2; [Apr. 1884-June 1887]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    steadily grown in favor, all schools of medicine use it, and many members of each school value it very highly. The converse is also true, and many phys- icians neglect it, while others do not use it at all. Medical Properties (History).—-In 1798 Prof. B, S. Barton issued the first part of his “Collections for an essay towards a Materia Medica of the United States/' In it he writes, p. 9: “I am informed that the Cherake f cure it [cancer] with a plant which is thought to be Hydrastis canadensis/' In the third part of his “Collections/’ 1804, he again refers to hydrastis: “The root of this plant is a very powerful bitter” (p. 13), and says (p. 14): “The hydrastis is a popular remedy in some parts of the United States. A spirituous infusion of the root is employed as a tonic bitter in the western parts of Pennsylvania, etc., and there can be no doubt that both in this and in other shapes, our medicine may be used with much advantage. An infu- sion of the root in cold water is also employed as a wash in inflammations of the eyes.” t Hand (House Surgeon, 1820,) adds: “ It may be given in form of pow- der or of strong tea made by boiling, in indigestion, the secondary stages of low fevers, and all cases of weakness in general.” Rafinesque’s Medical Flora, 1828, Vol. L, pp. 253 and 254, supports the foregoing, and in addition states that ‘ ‘ they [natives] also employ it for sore legs and many external complaints as a topical tonic. Internally, in infusion or tincture, in disorders of the stomach, the liver, etc. It appears to be slightly narcotic and available in many other disorders. Some Indians em- ploy it as a diuretic, stimulant and escharotic, using the powder for blistering § and the infusion for dropsy ” In Elisha Smith’s Botanic Physician, 1830, we find several compounds containing hydrastis, to-wit: “Stimulating Cathartic Powders,” “Bone’s Bitters,” and “Tonic Powders.” Howard’s Improved System of Botanic Medicine, 1832, p. 327, recommends it, also, in dyspepsia. Beach (1833), American Practice of Medicine, states that in connection with tonic properties it is “at the same time laxative, which makes it very appro- priate m dyspeptic disorders.” Next, the edition of the Thomsonian Re- corder of 1833, p. 398, reviewed the medical properties as previously announced by others, and added to them as follows: ‘ ‘ The importance of this article, taken in teaspoonful doses, for the relief and removal of bowel complaints in children should be extensively known. It is not only a corrector of the stomach, a regulator of the bowels, and a vermifuge for children, but it is an admirable remedy for the peculiar sickness attendant on females during their periods of utero-gestation, called morning sickness. It admirably relieves stomachic oppression, nausea, and heart-burn.” Of the use of hydrastis in * Cherokee Indians.—Ed. | Rafinesque's Medical Flora, Vol. I., 1838, p. 253, adds: “ It is considered a specific by the Indians for that dis- order. Captatn Lewis, 1804, supports the above, saying: It is said to be a sovereign remedy in a disorder common to the inhabitants of the country where found, usually termed sore eyes. § This must be a mistake ; phytolacca, or sangutnaria, will blister, but hydrastis can not be used for thif purpose.