The genesis of the American materia medica : including a biographical sketch of "John Josselyn, gent," and the medical and materia medica references in Josselyn's "New-Englands rarities discovered," etc., and in his "Two voyages to New-England," / with critical notes and comments by Harvey Wickes Felter.

  • Felter, Harvey Wickes, 1865-1927.
Date:
[1927]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The genesis of the American materia medica : including a biographical sketch of "John Josselyn, gent," and the medical and materia medica references in Josselyn's "New-Englands rarities discovered," etc., and in his "Two voyages to New-England," / with critical notes and comments by Harvey Wickes Felter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Water Plantane 11 [p. 42], “here Water-suck leaves.”—“For Burns and Scalds, and to draw Water out of swell’d Legs.” “It is much used for Burns and Scalds, and to draw water out of swell’d Legs.” White Hellebore 12 [p. 43], “which is the first Plant that springs up in this Country, and the first that withers; it grows in deep black Mould and Wet, in such abundance, that you may in a small compass gather whole Cart-loads of it.” “Wounds and Aches cured by the Indians. For the Toothach. For Herpes milliares.” “The Indians Cure their Wounds with it, annointing the Wound first with Raccoons greese, or Wild-Cats greese, and strewing upon it the powder of the Roots; and for Aches they scarifie the grieved part, and annoint it with one of the aforesaid Oyls, then strew upon it the powder: The powder of the Root put into a hollow Tooth, is good for the Tooth-ach: The Root sliced thin and boyled in Vinegar, is very good against Herpes Milliaris.” 13 Woodbine 14 [p. 45].—“For swell’d Legs.” “Wood-bine, good for hot swellings of the Legs, fomenting with the de¬ coction, and applying the Feces in the form of Cataplasme.” 11 Alisma Plantago aquatica L. (See also Josselyn’s “Voyages,” p. 80). (Felter.) 12 Veratrum viride Aiton; Green Hellebore, American White Hellebore, or Indian Poke. This so closely resembles the White Hellebore of Europe {Veratrum, album, undoubtedly familiar to Josselyn) that the former often was mistaken by others as well for the latter, and called zvhite hellebore. (Felter.) 12 Herpes milliaris here probably refers to that one of the three anciently recognized forms of herpes, later put in the group of three others, by Bateman, as “Herpes phlyc- tenodes (H. miliaris).” It was known commonly as Miliary Tetter. Under the head of Herpes miliaris. The miliary tetter. Hooper (Med. Diet., 1850) says: “This breaks out indiscriminately over the whole body; but more frequently about the loins, breast, perinaeum, scrotum and inguina, than in other parts. It generally appears in clusters, though sometimes in distinct rings; or circles of very minute pimples, the resemblance of which to the millet-seed has given rise to the species. The pimples are at first, though small, perfectly separate, and contain nothing but a clear lymph, which, in the course of the disease, is excreted upon the surface, and there forms into small distinct scales; these, at last, fall off, and leave a considerable degree of inflammation below, and still continues to exude fresh matter, which likewise forms into cakes, and so falls off as before. The itching, in this species of complaint, is always very troublesome; and the matter discharged from the pimples is so tough and viscid, that everything applied to the part adheres, so as to occasion much trouble and uneasiness on its being removed.” Dunglison (Med. Diet.) refers to it under Bateman’s classification (see above), but later lexicographers ignore it and ordinary text-books do not refer to it under the name Herpes miliaris. From the description by Hooker one cannot escape the suspicion that it might be a papulo-vesicular form of eczema terminating in the weeping variety. Herpes zoster is possible, but the severity of the symptoms (except in the middle-aged, in which gangrenous sores sometimes follow) make it quite improbable. (Felter.) 14 Meaning uncertain, as the woodbinde, or honisuckles of the Old World herbalists and our five-leaved Woodbine, Psedera quinquefolia (L.) Green, (Ampelopsis quinque- folia Michx.), or Virginia Creeper, bear similar common names. Tuckerman states that our American woodbines are distinct from those of Europe. (Felter.)