The Cherokee Physician - Section 4-A



Page 177

PART FOUR

INDIAN MATERIA MEDICA. 
PRINCIPALLY BOTANICAL.
   Materia Medica means nothing more than simply the materials of 
medicine; it is that part of the medical science which treats of the 
nature, and properties of substances, whether simple or compound, mineral 
or vegetable, which are employed for the arrest or cure of disease, and 
for restoring health.

   The Indians derive the materials of medicine employed by them in the 
healing art, almost entirely, from their own native forest. 
Notwithstanding their remedies may appear simple to those unacquainted 
with their medical properties; yet it is frankly acknowledged by the 
whites who have had an opportunity of personal observation, that in many 
instances they have arrested disease, with apparent ease, when the 
remedies prescribed by white physicians of character and skill had failed.

   Botanical materia medica is yet in its infancy, but little has been 
done towards classing the articles composing this branch of medical 
science. We shall attempt to class them, according to their most active 
medical properties We deem the classification here proposed, best 
calculated to simplify the healing art, and thus render it more readily 
comprehended, and consequently more useful to the community in general. 
The articles described under one class, in many instances, possess also 
the specified properties of other classes, though in a less active degree. 
In such cases, I will place the article under the head, where I think its 
most distinguishable, and active medical properties entitle it to be 
placed; but at the same place, I will describe all its medical qualities, 
so far as I have learned them.

   The Indian name of the articles will be placed at the head, immediately 
under the Indian name will be seen the most common names applied to them 
by the whites, and 

Page 178

to the right of the common name will be given the botanic technical name--
so far as I am acquainted with them.

   In some instances the opinion of white physicians with regard to the 
medical qualities of different herbs or roots are given, in such cases it 
is given as their views and plainly distinguished from the Indian theory.

Page 179

CLASS No. I.
EMETICS.
   Emetics are a class of medecines, which on being received into the 
stomach, produce vomiting, or puking--they are called by physicians 
emetics, and are given in a great variety of cases to rid the stomach of 
its noxious contents. Their operation will always be increased, and 
rendered much easier, by drinking water made milk or blood warm, in 
considerable quantities after the first operation.

IPECACUANHA--(Raicilla.)
   Ipecacuanha is a native product of South America, and this word in the 
Spanish language signifies emetic root.--This name is applied in Spanish 
America to various plants that possess emetic properties to any 
considerable extent--this fact gives rise to the confusion which is so 
common concerning this plant--it also accounts for the several varieties 
found in the shops, bearing the same name. The botanical name for this 
root is Raicilla. By paying attention to the proper or botanical name, the 
genuine article may generally be procured from the shops without 
difficulty. The genuine ipecacuanha, in its dry state, is a small wrinkled 
root, about the size of a hen's quill, variously twisted, and marked with 
projecting parts, apparently like rings--ash colored. It has a sickening 
and slightly bitter taste, and very little small. The outer bark is very 
brittle and it is, in this part, that the power and activity of this root 
as an emetic resides. This is generally sold in the shops, in the form of 
powder; that being the form in which it is administered as an emetic or 
puke. The powder is the color of common ashes. I have now described to you 
the imported ipecacuanha or the medicine which is most commonly used by 
physicians, among the whites under that name. I will now give for the 
further information of the reader, the opinion of Dr. Gunn respecting its 
medical properties. He says: "I may justly remark, that it stands at the 
head of the vegetable emetics for promptness, efficacy and safety of its 
operations. In powder, which is the manner in which it is generally given, 
full vomiting will 

Page 180

be produced in a grown person, by a scruple or half a drachm, or you may 
put a tea spoonful of the powder, into six table spoonful of warm water, 
and give a table-spoonful every few minutes until it operates; or you may 
steep it in wine, and give it in small doses, until the effect you desire 
is produced.

   The medical uses of this powder, when properly applied are very great 
and valuable. In addition to acting as an emetic, it will, when given in 
small doses, so as to produce nausea (sickness at the stomach) generally 
produce moisture of the skin or evacuation of the bowels, and in still 
smaller doses, generally stimulates the stomach, increases the appetite, 
and assists digestion. When given in small doses, it acts, not only as a 
diaphoretic, (sweating) but as an expectorant, (which means a free 
discharge of tough mucus and spittle from the mouth and throat.) It is 
also valuable, when given in small doses, to stop violent hemorrages 
(bleedings) from the lungs and womb. In intermittent fevers, it has 
generally succeeded in stopping them, especially when given about an hour 
before the coming of the fever, and also when given so as to produce 
vomiting at the time of the fever or end of the cold stage. Great benefit 
is often derived from the medicine, in continued fevers-and particularly 
in the commencement of typhus fever; an emetic or puke of ipecacuanha, 
followed by a sufficiency of this medicine, in very small doses, to keep 
up a gentle moisure or sweat, will, if attended to, in the early stage of 
this complaint, probably at once cut short or greatly lessen the severity 
of the attack."

   I have given the above views of Dr. Gunn, for the information and 
benefit of those who prefer the imported to the American ipecacuanha.

   In my practice, the American ipecacuanha or Indian physic is most 
generally used.

AMERICAN IPECACUANHA. 
[UHE-LAY-OO-YAH-TER-TEE.]
   This very useful, and somewhat singular plant, is said to be 
exclusively a native of the United States, and may be found in great 
abundance, in the middle, southern and western States, growing in loose, 
moist, sandy soils, and frequently in beds of almost pure sand. The leaves 
of this plant vary so much in shape and color, and in fact, the 

Page 181

whole plant varies so much in its different situations, that it is often 
mistaken by those unacquainted with its habits, for several distinct 
species of plants. It has a large, long, white, or yellowish colored, 
perrenial root, which sends off towards the upper part, many small roots 
about the size of small quills. The stems are numerous, of a reddish, pale 
green, or yellowish color. The leaves grow opposite to each other, and are 
generally of an oval form--but sometimes, they are of a long, oval--
sometimes pointed--and at others linear. The flowers appear in the month 
of May, at which time, the leaves are very small, but as it advances in 
age, they become greatly increased in size.--The flowers are succeeded by 
three square or triangular capsules, or seed vessels, each capsule 
containing three seeds. The root of this plant is the part used for 
medicine, and is, in my opinion, far superior to the imported Ipecacuanha. 
It is a powerful emetic, both safe and certain in its operations, and is 
applicable to nearly all the cases, in which emetics are required. In 
doses of from five to ten, or fifteen grains, it is an excellent emetic: 
in doses of twenty grains, it operates as an active purge. In very large 
doses, it produces, in addition to the above effects, vertigo (giddiness 
in the head,) heat and great prostration of strength. When it is not 
convenient to weigh this article, put from one to one and a half tea-
spoonfuls in a half pint of hot water, and when it becomes sufficiently 
cool, give it in table-spoonful doses, at intervals of from five to ten 
minutes, until vomiting is plentifully produced, aid it by the free use of 
warm water; after every motion to vomit, when the stomach is sufficiently 
cleansed, give gruel which will turn it to the bowels. This is an 
excellent article in Asthma, (phthisic,) colds, &c. Take in good spirits, 
a handful of the root to a quart of spirits, drink enough of this tincture 
twice a day, to excite slight (nausea) sickness at the stomach; it is also 
very good, taken in this way, for an inactive state of the liver--this 
tincture may be rendered better for the liver, by adding to the 
Ipecacuanha equal quantities of gulver root, and boneset leaves. For a 
full description of these herbs, refer to their heads. The American 
Ipecacuanha is much stronger than the imported Ipecacuanha. In 
administering the American Ipecacuanha for an emetic, I have added one 
fourth gulver, and found it much better than the Ipecacuanha used alone. 

Page 182

The root is the part used.

INDIAN PHYSIC. 
[UH-LAH-OO-YAH-TER-TEH.]
   Some writers among the whites make no distinctions between this plant 
and the American ipecacuanha, while others represent them as being two 
distinct species. It is not material which of these opinions be correct if 
we but understand the medical properties of both. We believe the Indian 
Physic to possess the same medical properties as the American Ipecacuanha 
and may be used to advantage in all cases where the Ipecacuanha would be 
advisable. It is combined with other articles in almost all cases where an 
emetic is required, by the Cherokee Indians. It is to be found in great 
abundance, in almost every part of the Western country, inhabiting shady 
woods and the sides of rich hills on mountains, from the Lakes of Canada 
to the Gulf of Mexico. It has a perennial roof, composed of several long, 
slender, brown-colored branches, issuing from one common caudex or head, 
and running some distance under ground. The stems which rise from the 
root, vary in number. Sometimes there is but a single one, and at others, 
there are many--they are round branches towards the top and commonly of a 
redish color and grow to the height of from two to three feet. The leaves 
are of a deep green color, long and pointed, flowers white. I again tell 
you that this root is valuable in all cases in which the American 
Ipecacuanha is recommended.--When administering it as an emetic, I combine 
it with gulver root, sometimes equal quantities of each, and sometimes two-
thirds gulver to one of the Indian Physic. In preparing the emetic take 
the root after it is well sleansed and boil it in water to a strong 
decoction and give a half gill of the decoction every fifteen minutes 
until vomiting is produced. Encourage the operation by the free use of 
warm water; after the stomache is properl cleansed, give gruel to 
determineit to the bowels. The tincture of this root is an infallible 
remedy for that dreadful malady Milk-Sick, as may be seen in the treatment 
of that disease.--This root also forms an ingredient in Foreman's anti-
bilious pills. Combined with bone-set leaves and gulver root, it forms a 
valuable bitter for an inactive state of the liver and spleen.

Page 183

LOBELIA, EMETIC HERB, &c.--(Lobelia Inflata.) 
[TOS-LAH-E-YOU-STEE.]
   Lobelia Inflata is a beautiful plant, that is, it requires two years 
from the time it comes up from the seed before it comes to perfection and 
produces its seed. The stem is erect, milky, branched, growing from one to 
two and a half feet high. The leaves are alternate, oblong, acute, serrate 
and sessile, they contain like the stem a milky substance. The flowers are 
small, of a pale blue or whitish color, and generally put forth from the 
stalk solitary, immediately above each leaf. The seed vessels are small, 
oblong, roundish pods, seeds many, very small and of a brown color.

   The first year this plant only sends forth a few radical, roundish 
leaves, which lay close to the ground--the second year it produses the 
branches and seeds. Lobelia is a common plant in many parts of the United 
States, growing mostly in old fields and open lands, rarely in the woods.--
It is often found growing in great abundance in stubble fields, if left 
uncultivated the next year after the crop is taken off. When any part of 
this plant is broken, a milky substance or juice exudes from the wound, of 
a most penetrating, diffusible nature. This juice when applied to the eye 
has a most powerful effect, and hence it is called eye-bright; it has also 
received the name of Indian-tobacco, from the circumstances of its being 
used as a medicine, by them, and was thought, by some of the whites, to 
produce effects similar to the common tobacco.

   Dr. Thompson, and several later writers on the same system, esteem it 
as being far superior, as an emetic, to any other article of that class in 
the compass of their knowledge--it is their alpha and omega in all cases. 
But we beg leave to differ with them on this subject, (as well as on many 
others,) we believe it to be two severe in its operations for weak 
breasted persons. It is an excellent medicine in case of croup and asthma 
or phthisic. The tincture given in small doses is good for infants, to 
prevent cholics, croup, &c., for this purpose it should be given in very 
small doses, just sufficient to produce slight nausea.

   The most important use we have for this herb, however, is in the bite 
of reptiles and stings of insects. In the bite of the copper-head or 
rattle snake, we give it as an emetic; the tincture is preferred, but if 
this is not at hand, bruise 

Page 184

the herb, put it in spirits, shake it well, and administer it in large 
drinks until copious vomiting is produced. If the other articles directed 
for external application, are not at hand, this tincture or bruised herb 
may be applied to the wound, until some of the other articles can be 
procured. The tincture forms an excellent application for the sting of 
insects or bite of spiders.

   This plant may be used at any age from the time it first springs up 
until it gets its full growth and ripens--the same quantity possessing at 
all ages the same strength or virtue. The best time for gathering this 
plant is in the latter part of the second season, when it has arrived at 
maturity, which may be known by the leaves and pods beginning to turn 
yellow, at which time the seeds are ripe, and they are the most active 
part of the whole plant.--When it is gathered, it should be kept clean, 
and the night air excluded as much as possible. The tincture is made by 
putting the pulverized leaves or seeds into proof spirits and let it 
digest ten days in sun heat, the green leaves will answer. This article 
may also be used in an infusion in warm water, not hot, for anything above 
blood heat destroys its virtues and deprives it of its emetic property.--
When you wish to give this herb as an emetic, in any case except snake 
bite, it is best to give it in small doses, repeated every few minutes 
until it operates; in snake bites it must be taken freely. The powdered 
leaves generally require a tea-spoonful and sometimes more to produce 
vomiting--of the tincture from one to two table-spoonsful. In case of 
snake-bite it requires much more.

VERVINE OR VERVANE--(Verbena Hastata.) 
[ TE-SCO-YUR-TE-NEEN-WO. ]
   This well known plant is commonly found growing in uncultivated fields, 
fence corners and about yards.

   This herb forms a tolerable good emetic, but not equal in our 
estimation to the Indian Physic. For an emetic, it may be used in a 
decoction of the green or dry herb, or in powder like lobelia. The leaves, 
seed and roots, are all used for medicine, but I prefer the root in all 
cases, except for an emetic. The root combined with black-root and puccoon-
root and digested in any kind of spirits, except peach brandy, and taken 
for chills and fevers, will be found of great benefit. A single handful of 
this root and a table-spoonful 

Page 185

of steel-dust, put into a quart of prooff spirits, is good for Dropsey. 
The decoction is also good for flux and old bowel complaints, either among 
children or among grown persons. The decoction given in early stages of 
fever seldom fails to throw it off entirely. It is an excellent sodorific 
and is valuable in decoction for colds, coughs, female obstructions and 
afterpains. It ha been employed with considerable success in the treatment 
of consumption.

INDIAN FEVER ROOT.
   This plant has a perenial root, which runs horizontal and sends off 
many fibers--this root has a dark color and a strong rich taste. Several 
stems arise from one root to a height of two or three feet, they are 
round, faintly striped and covered with hair or down which is scarcely 
perceptible, the leaves are scattering, supported on long foot stalks, 
which sheath the stem, and like it are covered with down, which becomes 
hard and rough as the plant attains maturity. Flowers are large and yellow.

   This root is much used in the cure of fevers by the Cherokee Indians, 
and it seldom fails, in their hands, to effect a speedy cure. A strong 
decoction of the root when drank freely, operates as an emetic and gentle 
purgative, and promotes a free perspiration. It is a very valuable article 
in colds and female obstructions. It may be used alone or combined with 
other emetics.

GILLENIA--(Gillenia Trifoliata.)
   Gillenia grows in rich shady woods, where the soil is light, and has a 
branched and very knotty root, several, smooth, slender, erect stems 
spring up from the same root, considerably branched and of a reddish 
tinge, the leaves are alternate and slightly toothed, the flowers few and 
scattered.

   A decoction made by boiling this root in water has a beautiful red 
color, and a very bitter taste. It is a valuable emetic and may be taken 
in decoction, or the powdered root taken in warm water, until vomiting is 
produced.--Dose for an adult is a tea-spoonful of the pulverized root put 
into a half gill of hot water, one-fourth of which must be taken every 
fifteen minutes until it operates.

Page 186

CLASS NO. II.
CATHARTICS.
   Cathartics are a class of medicines, which increase the frequency of 
the stools, by quickning the peristaltic motion. Of this class of 
medicines there are two kinds, which are distinguished according to their 
degrees of activity.--

   Those which operate with mildness are called laxatives, and those which 
operate with violence and activity are called purgatives, the harshest of 
which are called drastic purges. Those articles both laxatives and 
purgatives, will be placed under the general head cathartics.

   Very few diseases to which the human family are subject can be relieved 
without the use of medicines of this class, which is fully shown in the 
treatment of the different diseases.

BUTTERNUT, WHITE WALNUT.--(Inglans Cineria.) 
[CO-HEE.]
   This tree is well known in this country by the name of white walnut. 
The inner bark of this tree and especially the root affords one of the 
best purgative medicines with which I am acquainted. In bilious fevers, 
bilious cholics and in most cases where an active purge is required, some 
physicians object to this article on account of its drastic and 
stimulating properties, but it may be easily rendered one of the mildest 
and yet one of the most certain cathartics now in use by combining it with 
gulver root. The manner of extracting the virtue of this bark is by 
boiling it in water for several hours and then strain out the bark and 
boil the decoction to the consistency of molasses or pills, it desired, 
from three to five of these pills when fresh will operate on the bowels of 
most persons; if the gulver is to be added, put the root in and boil it 
with the butternut bark. White walnut forms an ingredient in Foreman's 
anti-bilious pills, and these pills are used by the Cherokee Indians in 
almost all cases where a purge is thought by them to be necessary. 
Butternut may be administered either in pills, extract, cordial or syrup. 
Its medical virtues, as I have before told you, are confined to the inner 
bark, and the proper time for getting it in the full possession of its 
virtues, is about the month of June-- 

Page 187

the bark at this time in the year is considerably more powerful than at 
any other season.

RHEUBARB.--(Rheum Palmatum.)
   Rheubarb is a native of some parts of Asia and of the East Indies, but 
is now cultivated both in Europe and America, for medicinal purposes. The 
root kept in the shops for sale, is imported from Russia, Turkey and the 
East Indies, but that which is cultivated in our own gardens, is equal if 
not superior to the best imported. The greatest inconvenience which 
attends the cultivation of this root is, the great length of time which it 
requires for it to come to perfection. Those acquainted with its 
cultivation say, that it ought not to be used until it is from six to ten 
years of age. Its cultivation is by no means difficult it is merely to sow 
the seeds in a light soil in the spring, to transplant the smaller roots 
the next spring into a light soil, well trenched; set the small roots 
about three or four feet apart. The third year the plants will produce the 
flowers; but the root is not fit for use before the fall of the sixth 
year, and will not have attained the full power of its virtues before the 
tenth year; it may, however, be used after the fall of the sixth year, 
with tolerable success as a purge. The proper time to take up the root, is 
in the fall after the leaves decay, or in the spring before they put 
forth. When taken up, the roots should be washed clean and the small 
fibers together, with the external rind pared off, after which, they must 
be carefully hung up in a dry place, no two touching each other, lest they 
mould, until they are completely dried, which will require from six to 
twelve months.

   Rheubarb is one of the mildest, best and most pleasant purgatives now 
in use, with its purgative properties it is also astringent and 
strengthening; in this particular it differs from most cathartics. It is 
superior to nearly all purges for another reason, it may be taken with 
opium and act on the bowels as well as if taken without it. This is a vast 
advantage, where purging would be attended with great pain, it may be 
relieved by opium, and the rheubarb is left free to act on the bowels.

   It may always be given with safety in all cases of extreme weakness, 
where a purge to open the bowels becomes necessary, and violent and severe 
purging would be highly improper. It is a valuable purge for children, 
even at a 

Page 188

very early period of life and in every situation where their bowels become 
disordered, particularly in dysentery or lax. It is also a valuable purge 
for grown persons laboring under this complaint.

   There are various modes of administering Rheubarb, such as in tincture, 
which means steeping it in any kind of spirits, in tea, &c. But the best 
and most certain method of giving this root is in fine powder. A dose for 
a grown person is from a tea to a table-spoonful. It may be used in tea or 
decoction, but by being heated it looses some of its strength or purgative 
properties. A valuable tincture or bitter, for persons afflicted with 
asthma, may be made as follows: Take of the root of Rheubarb pulverized, 
one ounce, of cinnamon bark one ounce, and one ounce of cloves, put all 
three of these articles into a quart of peach brandy, let it digest eight 
or ten days, shaking it well each day. This tincture may be used as other 
bitters, according to the strength and constitution of the patient.

PEACH-TREE.--(Amygdalus pesica.)
   This tree, so common in all parts of our country, not only affords us a 
pleasant, delicious and wholesome fruit, but also furnishes us with some 
very valuable medicine.--Medical virtues of great value are to be found in 
the bark, leaves, blossoms, kernels, and gum. The flowers, if gathered in 
full bloom, and dried in the shade, are equal, if not superior, to either 
the imported or the American senna, in all cases in which it is useful, 
either among infants or adults. A tea of either the bark, leaves or 
flowers, will purge the bowels freely and without the least griping. Dose 
for an infant, is a tea-spoonful every half hour until it operates--for an 
adult, it must be taken in larger quantities; they also act as a purgative 
when taken in syrup. The syrup is prepared by boiling the tea or decoction 
of the bark, leaves, or blossoms, over a slow fire, with an equal quantity 
of honey, molasses or sugar to the consistency of syrup. The bark, leaves, 
and flowers, all or either, made into a strong tea, and taken a gill every 
hour until it operates on the stomach, bowels and skin, (for taken freely 
in this way, it will puke, purge and sweat the patient) has frequently 
thrown off bilious fever in its first stage, without the aid of other 
remedies. A decoction of the bark, leaves, or blossoms, sweetened with 
honey or sugar, is excellent, given to children a tea-spoonful every half 
hour until it operates 

Page 189

for worms, hives, diseases of the skin, fevers, &c.--The gum of this tree 
will answer all the purposes for which gum arabic is used; it forms one of 
the best injections now in use for dysentary or flux.

   The kernels taken from the peach stone is a very powerful tonic, and 
may be used alone or combined with other articles in cases of extreme 
debility. Children that are in the habit of eating peach kernels are 
seldom afflicted with worms to any extent. These kernels tinctured in 
brandy in proportion about four ounces to a quart, form a powerful tonic, 
and will be found beneficial in most cases of debility. It is very good 
for the Whites or Flour Albus in females:--the dose is a tea-spoonful two 
or three times a day.

BLACK ROOT, BRINTON ROOT, GULVER ROOT, BOWMAN'S ROOT.--(Leptandria Alba.) 
[TE-NAH-TAH-NA-SKEE.]
   This root is generally found growing in low wettish lands near streams 
and open glades or plains. It has a dark colored. perrenial root, which 
grows from a long woody candex or head. Several stems spring up from the 
same root--they are round, hairy and generally grow from two to four feet 
high--they are branched towards the top, the branches bearing on their 
tops a spike or tassle of white, crowded flowers. The leaves are long, 
narrow, pointed, and their edges indented with unequal teeth, growing in 
whorls of four or five at a joint. I am authorized from personal 
experience to give this root a high recommendation as an efficient purge, 
operating with mildness and certainty, without producing that depression 
of the living powers which so commonly result from the operation of 
purgative medicines. It forms an ingredient in Foreman's anti-bilious 
pills, and in this preparation renders mild the exciting properties of the 
butternut, and enables us to enjoy at once the active properties of the 
butternut, and the antiseptic properties of the brinton root.--This root 
appears to be peculiarly adapted to typhus and bilious fevers--it is with 
us the most appropriate purge to carry off the tarry, morbid matter from 
the intestines in these complaints. The dose is a heaping tea-spoonful in 
a gill of boiling water, repeated in three hours, it seldom fails to 
operate in that length of time. This root may be 

Page 190

made into pills if preferred. It also forms our favorite emetic when 
combined with Indian physic, or American ipecacuanha, in most cases where 
an emetic is required.

   This root is also a diaphoretic, tonic and antiseptic, which properties 
added to its cathartic powers, render it so valuable to evacuate the 
contents of the bowels in fevers. It is excellent in tincture for chronic 
or lingering complaints, where persons have recovered imperfectly from 
fevers, agues, dropsies.&c. This root may be used either green, dry, in 
tea, powders, pills, or tincture.

AMERICAN SENNA--(Cassia Marilandica.) 
[AH-SUR-GEE-CAH-TEE-SAY-TSE-YOU-STA.]
   This valuable plant is found in most parts of the United States, 
growing generally in rich soils, and near streams. It has a black, woody, 
crooked, fibrous perennial root. Several stems rising from one root to the 
height of from three to six feet; they are round upright and nearly 
smooth. Its leaves are alternate, large, and composed of many small leaves 
growing in pairs on one central stem or petiole.--The flowers are of a 
bright, yellow or orange color forming a square cluster at the top of the 
stem. The fruit consists of long pods, a little swelled at the seeds, and 
bears a slight resemblance to the locust pod, though not near so broad.

   The American senna is cathartic, and is valuable among children or 
infants where a purge is necessary, it may be taken combined with sweet 
fennel seed to great advantage. Take a half ounce of the leaves and put 
them into three gills of hot water, take a table-spoonful for a dose every 
two hours until it operates. If the bowels be hard to evacuate, it may be 
taken in larger quantities. Many white physicians use the American in 
preferrence to the imported senna. For an adult it may be prepared and 
taken in the same manner as directed for children only in larger 
quantities.

MAYAPPLE, MANDRAKE.--(Podophyllum Peltatum.) 
[OO-NEE-SQUA-TOO-KEY.]
   The Mayapple is a well known plant growing in most parts of the United 
States, in shady moist lands. It has a perennial root, long, round and 
jointed, with many fibres or small roots issuing at each joint, the root 
runs horizontal 

Page 191

in the ground, stem erect, smooth, round, from twelve to eighteen inches 
high, of a yellowish green cocolor, stem forked, each branch bearing a 
single large leaf at the top, between which in the fork when it is in 
bloom there is a single white flower, which is succeeded by a yellow acid 
fruit. The fruit of this plant is good for food. The leaves are poisonous, 
and its medical virtues are wholly confined to the root. The proper time 
for gathering the root is late in the fall when the leaves begin to die. 
It should be carefully dried in the shade, and used in the form of powders.

   The American May Apple is an excellent, gentle, and effective purge, 
when properly used. It is acknowledged by many white physicians to be far 
superior to the jalap obtained in their shops; it operates more gently as 
a purge than jalap, and a much longer time. It is also preferable to jalap 
in other respects, it is less nauseous and more easily taken; less 
irritating to the stomach and bowels, and may be more easily used by 
delicate females and persons having weak and sensitive stomachs. It is an 
excellent article in intermittent fevers, it is also good in dropsy, 
pleurisy, and in incontinuence of urine. The dose is from half to a whole 
tea-spoonful of the powders, in very large doses; it operates with 
activity and power. If griping is apprehended, mix it with an equal 
quantity of gulver-root.--The index will refer you to a full description 
of this root. The Indians frequently roast the May-Apple root, and use it 
in this way; this renders it more mild and less drastic in its operations. 
A few drops of the expressed juice, put into the ear, is a valuable remedy 
for deafness. The powdered root is good to cleanse foul and ill-
conditioned ulcers it destroys the proud flesh without injuring the sound; 
it also removes the morbid matter, and promotes the exfoliation of carious 
or rotten bones. The proper manner of applying it to ulcers and sores, is 
by sprinkling the powder once in from two to four days.

MULBERRY TREE--(Morus Nigra.)
   The Mulberry is too well known to need description; it grows in great 
abundance in almost all parts of North America. The tree bears a very 
delicious fruit, which in common with many other fruits, possesses the 
property of quenching thirst, abating heat, and opening the bowels 

Page 192

as a gentle laxative. A syrup made of the ripe fruit is one of the most 
innocent, agreeable and certain purges in our knowledge for infants of 
costive habits.

   The inner bark of the root of the common black mulberry-tree, in doses 
of from half to a whole tea-spoonful of the powder operates as an 
excellent purgative.

   A strong decoction in the bark made into soup, with an equal quantity 
of molasses taken in doses of a wine glass full, not only proves an 
excellent purgative, but it is also useful to expel worms, particularly 
the tape worm. The inner bark of the root digested in whiskey, makes a 
valuable laxative bitter.

FLUX WEED, WITCH WEED.
   This is a small weed, growing from six inches to a foot high. The leaf 
is stiff and full of little stickers or spines all around the edges of it--
it bears a small prickly burr which contains the seeds. The seeds are 
black, and are the part used for medicine. They are a very gentle laxative 
and anodyne. The mode of preparing them for use is to boil a gill of the 
seed in a quart of new milk, and of this decoction give a gill every half 
hour until it operates on the bowels or relief is obtained. This 
preparation is an excellent remedy for dysentary, diarrhoe and bowel 
complaints generally, giving immediate relief in almost all cases in which 
it is taken--in obstinate cases it will be well to add a few drops of 
Laudanum to the above decoction.

BUCK THORN--(Rhamnus Catharticus.)
   Buck thorn is a shrub or bush found growing in the woods and about 
hedges--it generally grows to the height of from ten to fifteen feet--it 
flowers in June and the fruit ripens in September. The fruit when ripe has 
a faint disagreeable smell, and a sickening bitter taste. Both the bark 
and fruit of this shrub is a very powerful cathartic: it is very active 
and drastic in its operation, unless used in combination with other 
articles to moderate its effects--the berries is the part generally used 
for the cathartics, and when taken alone, they produce griping sickness 
and dryness of the mouth and throat,--leaving a thirst of long 
continuance. A decoction of the bark of this shrub, used as a wash is a 
certain cure for itch--it is good for sore or inflamed 

Page 193

BENNE PLANT.--[Sessaman Orientale.]
   This plant is much cultivated in the gardens of the middle and southern 
states--it is a native product of Africa; but of late years, the seeds 
have been introduced into South Carolina and Georgia, by the African 
negroes, and is now cultivated to a considerable extent, and is highly 
prized for its medical properties.

   It has a large, four cornered stalk, growing from two to four feet 
high, sending out a few short side branches.--Leaves are opposite, oblong, 
oval, and a little hairy.--Flowers are small, of a dirty, white color, 
succeeded by the seeds which ripen in the fall.

   The leaves and seeds afford a valuable mucallagenous substance in 
decoction, or infusion; that of the seeds is oily. This infusion of the 
decoction is valuable in flux, dysentary, cholera-infantum or any other 
disease of the bowels. The seeds yield a greater proportion of oil than 
any other known vegatable. One hundred pounds of the seeds is said to 
yield ninety pounds of oil. This oil is a good mild cathartic medicine--
and is much more pleasant to the taste than castor oil; it is said to keep 
many years without contracting any rancid smell or taste; it is also said 
to answer all purposes of salad oil. It is mild in its operations, and as 
to the dose, it should be taken until it produces the desired effect.

ALOE OR ALOES.--(Aloe perlivata.)
   Aloes is distinguished into three kinds or species--as caballine, 
socottorine and hepatic. The two last are the best for use. Cabalina is 
called horse aloes. The socottorine aloes is the resinous product of a 
plant growing in the Indian Ocean. It has a dark yellowish red color, a 
glossy, clear surface, and is in some degree pellucid; it is easily 
pulverized, and when reduced to a powder, is of a bright golden color. Its 
taste is bitter and disagreeable though accompanied with an aromatic 
flavor.

   The hepatic aloes is so called, because it is said to have a more 
direct and specific action on the liver, than the other kinds have. It has 
a strong disagreeable smell, and an intensely bitter sickening taste, 
accompanied with but very little, if any of the aromatic flavor of the 
socottorine.--Aloes is a valuable medicine, and may be used in pills, 

Page 194

powders or tincture. It is said by white physicians to be one of the best 
correctors of the bile or biliary system.--It is also good for worms; from 
two to four grains will act on the bowels.

CLASS NO. III.
STIMULANTS.
   Stimulants are of a class of medicines, which excite a new and stronger 
action in the system, or in some part of it, in order to, overcome an 
existing one, which is morbid, or two languid; or so excite the operation 
of an obstructed one. Those which produce permanent, and enduring effects 
are called Tonics. Stimulants are distinguished into two classes those 
which produce a universal excitement throughout the system, are termed 
Diffusable Stimulants, and those which are employed to excite in some 
particular organ or organs, are called Local Stimulants.

GARLIC.--(Allium Sativum.)
   This valuable article is cultivated in gardens for its medical virtues 
and is two well known to require a description.

   Garlic is a stimulant, carminative, diuretic, anti-scarbutic 
expectorant, and slightly cathartic. As a stimulant, it is both powerful 
and diffusable, and on this account is very useful for persons of cold 
phlegmatic habits. It forms an ingredient in Foreman's Phthisic mixture. 
The syrup increases the appetite, assists digestion, removes flatulence, 
promotes perspiration and has long been esteemed as useful for scurvey, 
dropsey and asthma. A very respectable white physician, of the old school, 
asserts that twenty cloves of Garlic, taken one of a morning, well pounded 
and mixed with common brown sugar, will cure any common case of asthma.

   Garlic applied to the soles of the feet, says a respectable white 
physician, "exceeds any other application to produce a revulsion from the 
head," and on this account, the garlic poultice to the feet and the syrup 
taken internally, is a most excellent remedy for collection of humors in 
the brain. It is also very good for croup, sore throat, for this apply the 
poultice to the feet, and annoint the throat and 

Page 195

breast with an ointment made by bruising the garlic and adding some lard. 
In malignant sore-throat the poultice applied to the throat also, will be 
found of service.

   Cotton or wool, wet in the juice of garlic and put in the ear and 
renewed three or four times a day, is valuable for deafness, it has often 
removed it when other remedies had failed.

   The Garlic poultice, applied to the feet in the low stage of accute 
disorders, and nervous fever, is good to raise the pulse, relieve the head 
and increase the general action of the system. Garlic given in tincture to 
children of a morning, will prevent worms, cholics, &c. The juice or syrup 
is far preferable to Bateman's drops, paragoric and many other articles of 
the kind so often given to infants for the cholic; in this case, a few 
drops of the expressed juice or syrup should be given every morning.

   The proper manner of making the Garlic poultice, is to mix equal 
quantities of bruised Garlic and crumbs of bread, moistened wit vinegar. 
The Garlic, when applied alone, will draw a blister.

CALIMUS, SWEET-FLAG.--(Ocorus Cabimus.)
   Calimus grows mostly in low marshy places, and in shallow water. It has 
long, sword-shaped leaves, resembling those of the flag, only they are 
much narrower and of a brighter green, they put out from the root without 
a stock, in the same manner as those of the Flag. Its root has a strong 
aromatic smell, and a warm bitter taste.--The flavor is improved by drying 
the root, it possesses stimulant and stomachic virtues, and is an 
excellent article in flatulent cholic, for both children and grown 
persons; for this purpose, grate or pound the root and put into water, or 
make into tea. It is recommended by some for White Swelling, prepared as 
follows.

   At the commencement of this disease, make a strong decoction of the 
root of white willow, thicken it with flour and apply it to scatter. If 
this should fail and the swelling increase, when it becomes ripe lance it 
deep and let it run. Then take equal quantities of brimstone and calimus 
root, both finely pulverized and put them in a dry gourd prepared for the 
purpose. Then take of common lead that will make as much when melted as 
you have of either of the other articles, melt the lead and pour it slowly 

Page 196

into the gourd, at the same time shaking the gourd; the gourd must be well 
shook until the contents become cool. The above process will convert the 
lead and calimus into a powder resembling gunpowder. Take of this powder 
and introduce it as far in the orifice as convenient, and then apply some 
of the same externally to the affected part. The above treatment is said 
by some to be a never failing remedy for White Swelling. I have never 
tried it personally, as the mode of treatment laid down under the head of 
White Swelling in this book, has never failed to fill my most sanguine 
expectations. Calimus is also good to expell worms when taken repeatedly.

MOOR-WORT.--(Andromeda Marienna.)
   Moor-Wort grows plentifully in many parts of the Southern States. A 
strong decoction of this plant is highly esteemed as a stimulating wash, 
and is very useful in ulcerations of the feet, such as toe-itch, ground-
itch, a complaint very common and troublesome among the blacks in some 
parts of the Southern States. It is also good for ulcerations on other 
parts of the body, and forms an excellent wash for indolent ulcers, as it 
stimulates them and disposes them to heal.

BLUE FLAG, GLEET ROOT. 
[OO-WA-SCO-YOU.]
   Blue Flag Generally grows in low situations or flat lands and near 
strsams. It is called by the whites Blue Flag or Wild Flag, but by the 
Indians it is called Gleet Root, from its great efficacy in the cure of 
Gleet. Its leaves are of a deep green color, and in shape resemble those 
of the calimus, they grow to the height of from six to eight inches, it 
blooms in June or July; flowers are blue, with a bright yellow tinge in 
the centre--the root lies very shallow, being seldom entirely covered with 
earth--on the main root grow several small knots or lumps about the size 
of a small bean, they grow from one to five or six inches apart on the 
main root. The root is the part used for medicine, and is one of the most 
permanent stimulants with which I am acquainted, and is generally useful 
where articles of this kind are needed. A decoction made by boiling this 
root with an equal quantity of dew-berry 

Page 197

brier root, is not surpassed by any article in the Indian Materia Medica 
in the cure of Gleet. It will also cure the Venereal.

   This root pulverized and stewed in hog's lard, sheep suet and beeswax, 
forms a most excellent salve for ulcers, particularly cancerous ulcers; 
combined with other articles, it forms a valuable salve in all cases where 
a drawing salve is needed, but is too severe in most cases when used alone.

SAGE.--(Salvia.)
   Sage is cultivated in most gardens for its medical virtues and for 
culinary purposes. An infusion or tea of the leaves sweetened with sugar 
or honey, is good in colds, coughs, nervous, debility, weakly females and 
persons of phlegmatic habits. A syrup or wax made by stewing sage leaves 
in honey until the strength is extracted, affords present relief in 
Asthma. I do not pretend to say that it will effect an entire cure for the 
disease, but it will relieve the spasm or fit immediately, and give ease 
until other remedies can be had. If the honey is not at hand, make a very 
strong tea of the leaves and put in it a tea-spoonful of the flour of 
sulpher, this will also give temporary ease.--It is a mild diaphoretic and 
is valuable in all cases where such articles are required.

MISTLETOE--(Viscum.) 
[OO-TAH-LEE]
   Mistletoe, which is sometimes called Misseldine, is an evergreen which 
groes on several kinds of trees. That which grows on the oak is best for 
medicine. It is good for epilepsy or fits--for this purpose gather the 
mistletoe about the last of November or first of December, dry and 
pulverize it, and preserve it in well corked bottles.

SEVEN BARK, 
[TE-TAH-NA-TAH-WA-SKEE.]
   Is a shrub or herb growing mostly in low, wet, thin soil, its height is 
from eight to ten feet, it is covered with several coats of thin bark, 
which always appear to be scaling or pealing off, has large tough leaves, 
flowers white, appear 

Page 198

in May and remain on the bush the principal part of the year. The bark and 
leaves have a very pungent, acrid taste, somewhat similar to that of 
prickly ash.

   The inner bark and leaves are the parts used. It is stimulant, 
antiseptic, and anti-emetic--valuable applied to ulcers, tumors, sprains, 
&c. Also taken in tea to stop vomiting.

CAMPHOR TREE--(Laurus Camphora.)
   The article known in this country as gum camphor, is the product of the 
camphor tree, which is a native of Japan and grows in great abundance and 
to a considerable size in the forests of that country. The branches, trunk 
and roots, all contain the gum. It is separated from them by a process 
called sublimation, which is something similar to distillation. The 
tincture of camphor is a very common family medicine, and is certainly one 
of the best common-place medicines known to me. It is a valuable sweating 
medicine in all cases that require it, such as colds winter fevers, &c. It 
is also an excellent article in spasmodic affections. It is good for 
females in almost all hysterical or nervous diseases, and for nervous head-
ache, both snuffed and applied externally. It is useful as a stimulant in 
sickness, fainting, &c., and as an anodyne in cholic, cramp &c. When 
persons are choaked with worms a dram of camphor will give immediate 
relief. It is excellent for strains and bruises, either in man or beast. 
After the stimulus ceases, which has been produced by the use of camphor, 
the person is apt to feel a disposition to sleep, without experiencing any 
bad effects from its use. It leaves no disagreeable effect in any way, if 
but a due portion be taker.

INDIAN TURNIP--(Arum Triphyllum.) 
[TOO-YAH-STEE.]
   This root has been in high repute among the American Indians, time 
immemorial. It grows in most States in the Union, in shady woods where the 
soil is light and rich. It has a perennial root, which in its shape, bears 
a great resemblance to the common turnip, though it is smaller; externally 
it is dark and wrinkled, internally it is white; its stalk grows to the 
height of from one to two feet and is of a reddish purple color, the 
leaves are three in number of a 

Page 199

roundish or oval form, and one flower of the same color of the leaves, 
succeeded by a roundish cluster of berries of a bright and beautiful 
scarlet color when ripe.

   In its fresh or green state, the Indian turnip has a powerfully acrid, 
biting taste; it is stimulant, expectorant, diaphoretic, and carminative. 
When dried it loses much of its intolerable pungency, together with much 
of its virtue. Some acrimony or sharpness should be perceptible to the 
throat and tongue, or the root has lost its powers, and should not be 
relied on. The root pounded to powder and mixed with honey, a tea-spoonful 
for a dose, two or three times a day, is good for colds, dry coughs, 
phthisics, &c.; it is also good in whooping-cough, consumptions, &c. It 
may be taken by boiling the fresh root in sweet milk until tolerably 
strong, and take a tea-cupful morning and night, the dose must be varied 
to suit the strength of the patient.--An ointment made by stewing the 
green root in hog's lard is valuable for scald head, keeping the head 
cleansed with soapsuds once a day. This ointment is also good for 
ringworm, tetter-worm, scrofulous sores, &c. Indian turnip is one of the 
most valuable expectorants with which I am acquainted, and may be used 
alone or combined with other articles in forming expectorant compounds.

GINGER, RACE--WHITE, BLACK GINGER. 
(Amomum Zingiber.)
   The article known in this country by this name, is the root of a 
perennial shrub, which is extensively cultivated in both East and West 
Indies. Race is a term applied to the root to distinguish it from that 
which is ground or pulverized. The white ginger is that which was washed 
and scraped before drying and the black is that which was washed only 
without having the external, dark bark taken off the root.

   Ginger is a warm, stimulating aromatic, and is a most valuable article 
in the practice of medicine. It is good for colds and cholics in tea--for 
cold, weak constitutions it is a good tonic. It is good for females at 
their monthly periods, if the discharges be too scant, and for lying-in-
women. A weak tea of ginger is good for infants when they are inclined to 
be hivy or colicky. It is also good in all cases of looseness and weakness 
of the bowels or intestines; it does not heat the system as much as the 
different kinds 

Page 200

of pepper, but is much more durable in its effects. Externally it is a 
very valuable ingredient in stimulating poultices. It is one of the best 
articles to relieve heart-burn in pregnant women with which I am 
acquainted--for this purpose they should chew the root, or pulverize it 
and take it until relief is obtained, there being no danger whatever in 
its use.

   In purchasing ginger for medical purposes the root is to be preferred, 
as that which is brought on in the pulverized state is often prepared of 
unsound or worm-eaten roots, or adulterated with other articles.

BLACK PEPPER--(Piper Nigrum.)
   The article known in this country by the name of black pepper, is the 
fruit of a tree which grows spontaneously in the East Indies. The berries 
are gathered and dried before they are ripe, and to this circumstance, 
they are indebted for their black color.

   Black pepper is much used as a condiment in cookery.--It is stimulus 
and slightly astringent, and may be employed as a substitute for cayenne, 
or red pepper, where they cannot be had.

RED PEPPER--CAYENNE PEPPER. 
(Capsicum Annuum.)
   Cayenne is a native of the tropical climates, but it is now cultivated 
in temperate ones also. Of this article there are several species, all 
possessing the same medical properties to a greater or less extent. That 
growing in Africa is considered the best or strongest, and is generally 
called African Cayenne.

   Cayenne is a very powerful stimulant, and is valuable in colds, 
cholics, &c. It forms an ingredient in the Phthisic mixture. The red 
pepper poultice applied to the soles of the feet, in nervous or low 
fevers, is a valuable remedy, as it raises the pulse, and produces a 
revulsion from the head; it has good effects on poultices on gangrenous 
parts. The essence made by putting three or four pods in a half pint of 
whiskey and burning it one third away, is an excellent application to 
remove pains in the side or elsewhere, it should be applied externally to 
the pained part and bathed in well, or a piece of flannel wet in this 
essence 

Page 201

and kept to the pained part as long and often as it can be borne. It is 
also a valuable stimulant in animal poisons, such as snake-bites, &c. When 
the other remedies prescribed for snake-bite are not at hand, give red 
pepper in whiskey freely, until the pulse is raised, and repeat as often 
as the pulse sinks or becomes weak.

SAFFRON--(Crocus Sativus.)
   Saffron is cultivated in gardens both in Europe and America for its 
medical qualities. It has a pleasant smell, and an aromatic, bitter taste; 
and when chewed it imparts a deep yellow to the spittle. It is a valuable 
article among children--good for hives, jaundice, red gum, and eruptive 
diseases in general.

BUTTON SNAKE-ROOT--(Liatris Spicata.) 
[TOO-NOO-NOO.]
   This root is a native of all the Southern States from seaboard to the 
Mississippi. It has a rough, perennial, fibrous root, and on the fibres 
grow little button-like knobs. Its stem is round and sometimes branched, 
bearing on the top a spike or tassel of scaly, purple flowers, which 
slightly resemble the shape of an acorn. This root possesses many medical 
properties. It is a warming stimulant, a dimetic, sudorific expectorant, 
carminative and anodyne. A decoction or tincture of the root is a valuable 
remedy in most cases of colic; it is also good for back-ache, pains in the 
limbs, dropsy, &c. It has a sharp aromatic and very bitter taste, and when 
chewed it produces a considerable flow of saliva or spittle. By many 
physicians of reputation, it is held in higher estimation than the seneka 
snake-root, which it very much resembles in its effects.

DWARF-BAY, MEZEREON--(Daphne Mezereum)
   Dwarf-Bay mostly grows in shady woody places where the soil is rich, 
and may be found in great abundance near the Ohio river. The leaves are 
spear shaped, flowers put forth in the months of February and March, and 
are of a beautiful red or rose color.

   The bark of the root is the part used for medicine. It has an extremely 
acrid, burning taste, and is so irritating 

Page 202

that it cannot be used constantly, but may be used in small portions, and 
at intervals, regulating the time and quantity by its effects. This 
article is highly stimulant and diaphoretic, and is one of the most 
valuable articles in the Cherokee materia medica in the last stages of the 
venereal where the constitution has been impaired by the improper use of 
mercury in this disease, which is too often the case under the old system 
of practice. This article is then found most efficient in relieving 
nocturnal pains and removing what is called venereal nodes, This root may 
be taken in decoction either alone or combined with other articles, as may 
best suit the views of the patient.

BUTTERFLY WEED, PLEURISY ROOT, FLUXROOT, 
&c.--(Asclepias Tuberosa. 
(GOO-GOO.)
   This beautiful plant is a native of every State in the Union, but is 
most abundant in the south and south western States. It flourishes best 
and grows to the greatest perfection in light, sandy, or gravelly soil, 
and is frequently found along fences and near stumps in grain fields. It 
has a large, crooked, branched, perennial root, of a light brown color on 
the outside, and white within, several stems rise from the same root, 
sometimes they are twenty or thirty in number, about the size of a pipe 
stem and stand in almost every direction, they are round, wooly or hairy 
and branched, rising from one to two feet high. The leaves are placed very 
irregular on the stalk, and are covered with a fine down on the lower 
side, thick or fleshy, and of an oblong shape. Its flowers appear in July 
or August they grow in terminal, corymbose umbels, and are of a most 
beautiful, brilliant, orange color, and is easily distinguished from all 
the flowers that adorn the fields.--This plant is often mistaken for the 
common silk weed.--There is, however, this difference between them, by 
which they may be easily distinguished; the flowers of the pleurisy root 
are of beautiful, bright orange color, while those of the silk weed are of 
a pale purple hue.

   Few articles in the Indian Materia Medica maintain a higher standing 
for its medical virtues than pleurisy root The powdered root acts as a 
mild purgative on the bowels but it is more particularly and inestimably 
valuable in producing expectoration, or throwing off mucus from the 

Page 203

throat and lungs, and in causing perspiration or sweating, when other 
remedies fail. This root possesses one remarkable power; given in proper 
quantities, it affects the skin, and produces perspiration or sweating, 
without heating the body, or increasing the circulation. It is a valuable 
article in diseases of the lungs generally. It is a powerful remedy in 
pleurisy, as may be seen under that head. It is a valuable article in the 
treatment of bowel complaints among children. Its use in a strong 
decoction, often gives relief to pain in the breast, stomach and 
intestines, by promoting perspiration, and assisting digestion. In 
feverish affections, proceeding from inflammation of the lungs, in colds 
recently taken, and in diseases of the chest generally, it is an excellent 
remedy. It may be administered, either in decoction or powder, of the 
pulverized root a tea-spoon-ful or more may be taken for a dose, and 
repeated as often as necessary; we generally combine it with the silk weed 
root, equal quantities; and if you wish to produce copious perspiration, 
without raising the internal heat, no article spoken of in this work will 
be better adapted to this purpose than the above compound.

WHITE SNAKE ROOT--POOL ROOT.
   Pool root is found in great abundance in the western states, 
principally confined to dry upland soils, and to lands timbered with oak 
and hickory.

   The root is small and fibrous, growing from six to four inches long, 
and of a dirty white color. Its stem rises from one to three feet high, 
angular and furrowed. The leaves are opposite, alternately supported on 
long foot stalks broad at the base, acute at the point with edges obtusely 
tentate or toothed. The flowers are white, and grow out in beautiful 
clusters.

   The root is the part used for medicine, is stimulant, tonic and 
diuretic, and has a warm, aromatic taste. This root may be used either in 
decoction or tincture, and is valuable in fever and ague, and will seldom 
fail in effecting a speedy cure, if the stomach and bowels have been 
properly cleansed, previous to its use. It is also given for gravel and 
diseases of the urinary organs generally. It may be used to advantage in 
most cases, where a stimulant is required.

Page 204

ALLSPICE TREE, PIMENTO TREE. 
(Myrtus Pimenta.)
   The Pimento Tree is the spontaneous product of Jamaica, one of the West 
India Islands. What we call Allspice, is the fruit of the Pimento tree it 
is plucked from the tree before it is ripe and dried in the sun. The 
proper name of this fruit is Pimento or Jamaica pepper; but its scent 
resembling that of a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, it has 
received the name of All spice. It is a warm aromatic stimulant, and is 
useful where gentle, stimulant stomachs are needed. It is a valuable 
astringent, stimulant for lying-in-women, whose discharges (called by 
physicans Lochia,) are profuse, but should not be used by those whose 
dischares are scant. It is also good for females at their monthly periods, 
when their discharges are profuse and weakning, but should not be used by 
such as are laboring under suppression or obstruction of the menstrual 
discharges.

CINNAMON TREE--(Laurus Cinamomum.)
   This tree or bush is a native of the Isle of Ceylon, in the East 
Indies, but it is now cultivated in many of the West Indies. It grows to 
the height of ten or twelve feet, and is very bushy. Its leaves resemble 
those of the laurel, and when chewed, have the hot taste and aromatic 
smell of cloves. The article known in this country as Cinnamon bark, is 
the inner bark of this tree.

   The bark is a useful and pleasant aromatic--it has a very pleasant 
taste, and strengthening to the stomach.--It is stimulant, stomachic, 
tonic and carminative, and is a valuable article for females in the latter 
stages of pregnancy, it may be used in decoction, powder, or combined with 
spikenard, digested in spirits and taken as bitters, its constant use for 
the last three months before delivery, will greatly strengthen both the 
mother and her offspring. It is also good to stop flooding either before 
or after delivery.

MOTHER-WORT.--(Leonurus Cardiaca.)
   Mother-Wort mostly grows in water places; it flowers in July and 
August. The flowers are white on the out side, and purplish within, 
growing in thorny whorls. The leaves are opposite; two to each whorl; and 
have a strong disagreeable 

Page 205

smell, and bitter taste. An infusion of this plant is a stimulant, 
reviving, cordial bitter. It is valuable in nervous and hysterical 
affections, and when taken at bed time, it procures a quiet, refreshing 
sleep, even where opium and laudanum have faild. It has also been used to 
great advantage in faintings, and diseases of the stomach. The quantity 
taken must be regulated, according to the strength of the patient, and the 
effect wished to be produced.

WILD GINGER, HEART SNAKE ROOT. (Asarum Candensis.) 
[TSE-YOU-CAH-LE.]
   This herb is found in most states, but is most abundant in the South. 
It generally grows in rich, shady, moist, wood lands. It has a round, 
fleshy, jointed, perennial root, which runs horizontally in the ground 
having many fibers; its colors is a bright outside. Its leaves are 
radical, round, hazy, veined; two from each root; supported on long foot-
stalks, so close the ground as to be scarcely perceivable.

   The root of this plant is a warm, powerful and diffusible stimulant, 
and on this account, it is valuable for colds, coughs and female 
obstructions. It may be used in decoction, tincture or syrup.

   This root combined with star root and a small quantity of sampson snake-
soot, or a small quantity of puccoon digested in common spirits, forms an 
excellent bitter for females, whose menstrual discharges are scant, and 
painful, or entirely obstructed. The root is also a valuable Anthelmintic, 
which means the property of discharging or expelling worms. When taken as 
a medicine, it should be boiled in sweet milk, and drank freely. It is 
valuable in warm fevers, and in most cases, where a diffusive stimulent is 
needed.

   A snuff made of the dried leaves, finely pulverized, is very good, when 
snuffed up the nose for the head and eyes.

PINE.--(Pinus.) 
[NOH-TRE.]
   The common pine of our forest, may well be ranked among the most 
beautiful and useful trees with which our 

Page 206

country is blessed. Beside the many uses made of it by mechanics for 
lumber, &c., its buds, bark, rosin and roots, possess medical virtues that 
are almost innumerable.

   It is stimulant and acts gently on the bowels as a laxative. The buds 
or inside bark steeped in water is excellent for hard, dry coughs, two or 
three glassfuls a day should be taken warm. A daily use of the inside bark 
taken in decoction is valuable in old bowel complaints. The spirits or oil 
made by distilling the turpentine or rosin which exudes from the tree 
where an incision is made; when taken internally, is one of the most 
active and diffusible stimulants within the compass of medicine. In cases 
where the bowels are obstinately constipated or bound, it is the most 
certain remedy with which I am acquainted. It is also useful in worms, 
hysterics, rheumatism, cholics, gout, weak back or kidneys, and in the 
treatment of child-bed fevers.

   The rosin in its natural state or as it exudes from the tree, is good 
in spirits for old rheumatism, and weak back and loins, or taken in pills 
it will answer a similar purpose. It forms an ingredient in the pill for 
dropsey. Many other uses are made of the pine rosin in preparing salves, 
ointments, &c. The rosin obtained by boiling the root forms one of the 
best strengthening plasters in the world. The index will refer you to the 
proper head for making and applying this plaster.

ROSIN WEED.
   This singular, and valuable plant, is found growing principally in the 
north and north-west, in those sections of country that are destitute of 
pine, the place of which this plant appears expressly intended to supply. 
It grows in rich ground, and is a very large rich looking plant.--The 
roots are large and grow deep in the ground the stocks rises from three to 
six feet high, rough, about the thickness of a man's thumb and crooked 
towards the top, the leaves are large, partly radical, the remainder grow 
irregularly up the stalk, and are of a dirty or ash colored green. 
Whenever the stalks is broken or the bark taken off, a rosin exudes from 
it like the opium does from the poppy, and adheres to the stalk in dry 
brittle lumps.--So nearly does this rosin resemble the pine rosin in 
color, taste and smell, that a person, not intimately acquainted with 
both, cannot discriminate between them.

Page 207

   The rosin may be used in all cases in which the pine rosin is 
recommended, for its effects on the system bear so strong a similitude to 
those produced by the pine rosin that they appear the same. The roots 
digested in spirits is good for females troubled with the whites (flour 
albus.)--The pine rosin is also good for weakly females. The pine and 
rosin weed is never found growing in the same section of country, I 
believe; and they seem expressly intended to supply the place of each 
other, and furnish both the cold and the warm climates with a medicine at 
once sate and valuable in the treatment of many of the diseases to which 
the inhabitants of both countries are subject.

WILD-WET-FIRE, BLISTER-ROOT, CHICKEN PEPPER.
   This plant is found growing on the banks of creeks, and spring branches 
near the edge of the water. Its root is white, many fibers issue from the 
caudex or main root, generally two but sometimes three leaves put up from 
a root, each leaf is supported by a foot-stalk from one to three inches 
high, the leaves and foot-stalks are covered with a kind of hair or furze 
of a green color, having whitish spots or pides, they are indented around 
the edges, and sometimes grow to the size of a silver dollar, but are 
generally much smaller. The root is the part used bruised and applied to 
the skin it will draw a blister much quicker than Spanish-flies. When a 
blister as large as the hand is desired, apply a plaster of the bruised 
root as large as a dollar; when the blister is drawn, annoint the edge 
with oil or lard to prevent it from spreading, and dress it with cabbage 
leaves, brier leaves, or plantain leaves, prepared as is common for a 
blister drawn with Spanish-flies.

WHITE POPPY.--(Papaver Album.) 
AND MODE OF PREPARING OPIUM FROM IT.
   The cultivation of the Poppy, the Drug Opium and its medical properties 
were equally unknown to the Aborignnees of our country previous to their 
acquaintauce with the whites. They frequently use Opium as a medicine 
since it was taught them by the Pale Face, and many of their physicians 
believe it to be a most excellent remedy in many cases. Opium is obtained 
from the White Poppy. 

Page 208

which is said to be a native of Asia, but is extensively cultivated in 
many parts of Europe, it has been cultivated in the United States 
sufficiently to prove that the soil and climate are as well adapted to its 
culture as any part of the Globe. The leaves, stalks, and capsules of the 
Poppy abound with a milky substance, this substance, or juice, is obtained 
by making incisions or cuts lengthwise on the capsules or pods about 
sunset, during the night the milky juice will exude from the pods through 
the cuts, and adhere to the sides of the incisions; on the following day 
it must be collected into an earthen plate. This is best done by a thin 
iron scraper made for the purpose. When thus collected, you are to work it 
in the sun with a wooden paddle until the juice becomes sufficiently 
thick, then make it into cakes with the hands and wrap it in the leaves of 
the Poppy, and put it into glass jars or bottles; if these are not at 
hand, wrap it in a hog's or beef's bladder, and it will keep as long as 
desired. The operation of cutting the Poppy pods as before directed, may 
be repeated every evening as long as the pods will furnish the milky 
juice. The best time to commence making the incisions, is when the pods 
are a little more than half ripe, the cuts are most easily made with a 
small knife having three blades, the midle blade being the shortest. The 
cuts should be shallow, not extending quite through the hull. This is the 
whole process of making Opium. There are two kinds of Opium. There are two 
kinds of Opium imported into America for sate, distinguished by the name 
of the Turkish and East Indian Opium. The Turkish Opium is the best it is 
more solid and compact, and when broken presents a smooth shining 
fracture. When good it is of a reddish brown color. When taken into the 
mouth, it produces a nauseous bitter taste, leaving a strong biting 
impression on the tongue and lips. It is very heavy and easy pulverized. 
It has a strong narcotic smell, and the cakes are wrapped in poppy leaves, 
frequently having on them many red-colored pieces of the capsules or 
hulls, which are indicative of its good quality. The East Indian Opium, 
which is not so good as the Turkish, has not that peculiar narcotic smell. 
It is much blacker, more nauseous and less bitter. It is not near so hard 
but more waxy and tenacious, and when broken, has not that uniformity of 
appearance which is found in the Turkish, but frequently has other 
particles interspersed through it. Laudanum is 

Page 209

made by dissolving an ounce of Opium in a pint of good spirits of any 
kind; it is generally fit for use in six or eight days. Twenty-five drops 
of laudanum are equal to one grain of Opium. Opium and laudanum given in 
small doses act as stimulants; in larger doses they produce sleep and 
relieve pain; in an over dose, when the person is not in the habit of 
using it, the consequence will always be fatal, in this ease it produces 
vertigo, stupor, tremors, convulsions, insensibility, succeeded by a total 
deprivation of muscular strength, when death usually closes the scene.--
When it is used as a luxury, (which is the case in China and some other 
parts,) and its use persisted in, it effects the physical system in a 
manner similar to the excessive use of intoxicating liquors. There is 
however this difference between the effects produced by spirituous 
liquors, and those produced by Opium. The excitement produced by spirits, 
are more acute and powerful while it lasts, but are of shorter duration 
than the effects produced by Opium. Spirits disorder the mind, unsettle 
and cloud the judgement and deprive us of our intellectual self-posession; 
while Opium on the contrary, soothes and tranquilizes the system, arouses 
all our dormant faculties, and produces just equipois between our 
intellectual strength and sensibilities.

   Opium is a most powerful anti-spasmodic, and may be advantageously used 
to remove cramps, spasms, &c.-- When given to children, (if given at all) 
a half drop of laudanum will be sufficient for a child of a few weeks old. 
In highly inflammatory cases, opium should be seldom used, as it will tend 
to aggravate the symptoms. A common dose of opium for a grown person, is 
one gram, but the dose must be varied according to the age and 
constitution the nature and stage of the disease, &c. spasms or cramps, it 
may be employed in much larger portions with the happiest results.

LETTUCE.
   The extract of the common garden Lettuce produces nearly the same 
effects as Opium. It possesses the power of allaying pain and producing 
sleep. As a stimulant it does not act so powerful as the opium produced 
from the Poppy, but has a tendency to repress the inordinate heat of 

Page 210

the system, and to diminish the too frequent action of the heart, without 
producing those unpleasant effects which sometimes follow the use of 
Opium, by persons whose constitutions cannot bear the stimulus produced by 
the latter. The extract of Lettuce is obtained as follows: Take the leaves 
and stalks of either kind of garden Lettuce, when the plants are nearly 
ready to flower, bruise them well in a mortar and put them in a bag made 
of flax or hemp, then press them until they yield their milky juice--this 
juice is to be evaporated in flat vessels in the sun, or by placing them 
in boiling water, until reduced to the consistence of thick molasses, when 
it is to be bottled for use.

BLUE ROOT.
   This very valuable herb is an evergreen, and is mostly found growing on 
the banks of small streams. The main root is about the thickness of a pipe-
stem, of a purple red color externally, but when broken; the inside has a 
bluish cast; many small fibres issue from the main root, which are white. 
The leaves are supported by footstalks from two to four inches long, which 
put up from the root similar to the puccoon leaves; they are round, saw-
edged, of a dark green color, and from three to five in number; they vary 
from the size of a dollar to twice that size. In the spring the flower 
stalk puts forth and grows from eight to ten inches high, bearing yellow 
flowers, which very much resemble the bloom of the common turnip. The root 
is the part used and is valuable in rheumatism and several other diseases 
as is fully shown in their different treatments.

CLASS NO. IV.
TONICS.
   Tonics are a class of medicines that increase the tone of the muscular 
fibres, and thereby strengthen the whole body. It has pleased the great 
Author of our being to furnish the vegetable kingdom with a a great many 
valuable articles of this class. A class of medicines designed to increase 
the tone and strength of the organic system, and invigorate the living 
power by improving the appetite, giving 

Page 211

vigor to the muscles and to the digestive powers, must be of extensive 
utility.

   Tonics may be distinguished into two kinds, viz: Bitter Tonics, and 
Astringent Tonics. The former are used to increase the tone and strength 
of the system generally, while the latter are peculiarly appropriate in 
the treatment of dysentery, diarrhoea, &c.

TAG ALDER.--(Alnus Serrulata.) 
[TSA-TAH-NAH.]
   Tag Alder is a perennial shrub, found mostly in low wet soils and along 
streams. It grows from eight to twelve and sometimes fifteen feet high, 
several in a cluster, the leaves are large, rather obtuse, of a dark green 
color.--This bush or shrub bears tags a little similar to those of witch 
hazle, from which it derives the name of Tag Alder.

   It is an excellent tonic and is a safe, valuable and cheap article of 
family medicine. The bark, leaves, or tags may be used either in a 
decoction or digested in common spirits. It is excellent for women 
troubled with bearing down pains, either before or after child-birth.

   Cloths kept wet with the decoction, and applied warm to painful 
swellings, afford much relief and generally scatters them. A poultice made 
of the inside, bark, leaves or tags, is an excellent remedy for strains 
and swellings, applied to swelled and pained testacles, whether produced 
by mumps or other diseases, it seldom fails to reduce the swelling and 
relieve the pain. The decoction drank freely is valuable in promoting the 
discharge of urine. The decoction or tincture is good for eruptions or 
diseases of the skin and particularly biles.

DOG-FENNEL, MAY WEED--WILD CAMOMILE. 
(Anthemis Cotula.)
   Dog-Fennel is a well known plant, abounding in every part of the United 
States with which I am acquainted, and is said to be a species of 
Camomile. It has a very offensive smell and a bitter taste.

   This plant, although generally looked upon as one of the most offensive 
and useless weeds with which our farms are beset, is nevertheless a 
valuable medicine. It is 

Page 212

an emetic, tonic, sudorific and anodyne, and may be advantageously used in 
colds, hysterics, epilepsy, dropsy, asthma, rheumatism and intermittent 
fevers, or fever and ague. A tea of this plant taken in small doses, as 
warm as it can be drank, promotes copious perspiraiton or sweating, and 
has often of itself, relieved persons afflicted with chills and fevers 
when other remedies had failed--and when properly taken and the bowels 
kept open by suitable medicines, it seldom, if ever, fails to effect a 
cure, in this disease. A poultice made by thickening wheat bran in a 
decoction of dog-fennel, is a valuable application in the treatment of 
inflammatory rheumatism. The bruized herb applied externally will draw a 
blister in a short time, equal in every respect to those drawn by Spanish 
flies.

BONESET, CROSS-WORT, INDIAN-SAGE, THOROUGH-WORT, THOROUGH-STEM. 
(Eupatorium Perfoliatum..) 
[TE-SCO-YOU-TE-NER-WO.]
   This herb is found growing in marshes, swamps and wet meadow lands, 
throughout the United States. It has a crooked, fibrous, perennial root, 
running horizontal in the ground--several stems usually rise from the same 
root from two to four feet high, hairy, of a pale or grayish green color, 
branched to wards the top. The leaves grow opposite and are so formed as 
to have the appearance of being penetrated by the stem through the centre 
where they are broadest, and gradually tapering to a point.--The whole 
herb has a rough, wooly or hairy appearance. The flowers grow in dense 
corymbs or clusters on the top of the stems, and are of a dirty white 
color, and appear in the month of July.

   This plant is possessed of powerful medical virtues. It is tonic, 
sudorific, stimulant, emetic, cathartic, antiseptic and diuretic. The warm 
infusion, given in doses sufficiently large to create nausea, produces the 
most copious and pleasant sweats, without increasing the fever in the 
least. The common mode of using the article is about a handful of the 
leaves to a quart of boiling water, when the strength is extracted, take 
about a half gill or wine glass full every 

Page 213

hour or two. If the above dose be increased to twice or three times the 
quantity, and taken a little above blood heat, it will act as an emetic, 
emptying the stomach not only of its ordinary contents, but of the bile 
also. In intermittent and remittent fevers, it is far more beneficial and 
safe than the peruvian bark, for if the peruvian bark be administered when 
there is fever, its effects are dangerous, but the boneset may be given 
when there is considerable fever, with the most salutary effect, as its 
active sweating powers always tend to diminish the fever. The infusion 
given cold, a half gill taken every half hour, will produce purging and is 
an excellent article in obstinate constipation of the bowels. The warm tea 
is good in coughs, asthma and hysterical complaints. It is a valuable 
medicine in yellow fever.

   This medicine acts well on the biliary or bile system, and also on the 
liver, giving them a healthy action, by which they are enabled to throw 
off all superfluous matter. It is the extract of this herb that 
constitutes Dr. Foreman's antiseptic pill, which operates so powerfully in 
assisting digestion. The leaves or flowers in powders, in doses of ten, 
fifteen or even twenty grains acts well as a purge.--This herb is also a 
valuable medicine in diseases of the skin. When boneset is taken as a 
sweat in cases of fever the stomach and bowels should be previously 
evacuated.--It sometimes increases the urine greatly, and has been used to 
advantage in cases of dropsy. In fever and ague it is an almost infallible 
remedy when the stomach and bowels are properly cleansed previous to its 
use.

SPIKENARD.--(Aralia Racemosa--Nardus Indica.) 
[YOH-NAH-TSU-NE-YAH-STEE.]
   Spikenard, usually called spignard, generally grows in rich, rocky 
grounds, both on mountains, in hollows, and in bottoms--it has a perennial 
root of a brownish yellow color, which divides from one caudex or head 
into several branches or distinct roots which are generally very long, and 
not quite so thick as a common finger--they are very tough, and when cut, 
broken, or boiled they yield a gummy substance of an aromatic smell and 
taste. This is the best part of the plant for medical purposes. Sometimes 
but one stem, and sometimes more rises from the same root 

Page 214

from two to three feet high; they are generally thick and of a purplish 
color, branched towards the top--leaves are biternate, (which means having 
three,) consisting of nine foliobs or small leaves. The flowers are of a 
yellowish white, growing in umbels, and produce small berries which bear 
some resemblance to the elder-berry. Both roots and berries may be used 
for medicine, and may be employed either in tea, syrup or tincture.

   To do justice to this root, would occupy more space than the size of 
this book will allow for one root. It is tonic, diaphoretic, antiseptic, 
astringent and expectorant. This article is useful in coughs, asthma, and 
diseases of the lungs generally. By many physicians of high standing it is 
ranked amongst the master remedies for consumption. The manner of using it 
in this disease is as follows: Boil the roots until the strength is 
extracted, then take them out and strain the decoction, put it on a slow 
fire, and reduce it almost to thin syrup, sweeten it with honey an let it 
stand until it ferments; of this beer take a tea-cupful morning, noon and 
night. It is one of the best articles in the Indian Materia Medica for 
female weakness. For weakly females that are liable to floodings or slight 
menstrual discharges during pregnency, it is the best article with which I 
am acquainted; for this purpose it may be taken in tea or bitters as the 
patient may prefer. For females afflicted with a weak back it is also 
good; for profuse menstruation, caused by a relaxed state of the system it 
is an excellent article. For females whose menstrual discharges are scant 
or irregular it is useful combined with rattle-root or wild-ginger. It is 
one of the most powerful strengtheners of the womb with which I am 
acquainted.--It is a fine application in fresh wounds, cuts. &c. The syrup 
in such cases should be made as thick as honey, and applied to the wound 
by means of dipping lint into the syrup and applying it to the wound. When 
prepared in this way it may be kept ready for use a great while, by adding 
rum or other good spirits, and is equal to the syrup made of white hickory-
bark.

Page 215

BLACK SNAKE-ROOT, VIRGINIA SNAKE-ROOT. (Aritolochia Serpentaria.) 
[OO-NAH-STA-RES-TEE.]
   The black or Virginia snake-root grows in great abundance in the 
different mountains in the United States, it is also found growing in rich 
river bottoms and on rich hill sides, generally in shady places.

   This root has a small, bushy root, consisting of a number of small 
fibers matted together, issuing from one common head; it is of a brown 
color on the outside, and yellowish within, turning darker on drying. It 
has a slender, crooked stem, growing from six to ten inches high, bearing 
from three to seven leaves, which are long and heart-shaped at the base.

   The root has a strong disagreeable smell, somewhat aromatic, and a very 
pungent and lasting bitter taste. Taken in strong decoction, is an 
excellent stimulus or tonic, and is beneficial in typhus fevers, ague and 
fever, &c., after preparing the stomach for it. In decoction, it is best; 
a handful of the roots to a quart of boiling water, taken in half gill 
doses, every half hour, until sweating is produced. It is also diuretic, 
and antiseptic, and has been used with advantage as a gargle in putrid 
sore throat. Taken internally, will stop mortification, and prevent 
putrefaction in the bowels. It may be used alone in tincture or compounded 
with other articles for bitters, and is valuable for persons of weak 
phlegmatic habits.

SAMPSON SNAKE-ROOT. 
[OO-HAR-STEE.]
   This plant grows mostly on dry poor grounds, in the woods. It has a 
perennial root; several roots issue from the main head about the size of 
goose quills, or hardly so large; and are supposed to bear some 
resemblance to worms. Its stems rise from eight to ten inches high, round, 
jointed; its leaves are opposite, smooth, oblong, few and of a beautiful, 
dark, green color. The flowers grow on the top of the stem or branches, 
are tatular, or cylindrical, of a dirty white, reddish, brown, or pale 
blue color, and never appear to be fully opened or expanded.

Page 216

   The root is the part used for medical purposes, and has a very pleasant 
taste. It is a very powerful and valuable bitter tonic, whether used 
alone, or combined with other tonic articles. It is an important article 
in the Indian practice, in all preparations for obstructed menstruation; 
it is an excellent article, in cases of cholic, indigestion, &c. It is 
diaphoretic, or sweating, and may be advantageously combined with other 
articles for this purpose, but it should not be used by females, in a 
state of pregnancy, or such as are troubled with profuse menstruation, as 
it will have a tendency to produce unfavorable symptoms. It may be used in 
decoction or bitters.

WILD CUCUMBER.--(Cicumis Agrotis.)
   This tree is a native of the American forest, and is frequently known 
by the name of magnolia. In fertile soils, it sometimes attains the height 
of eighty or ninety feet.--It leaves are very large and beautiful, oval or 
tongue shaped; it produces a large fruit which bears some resemblance to 
the cucumber; it is from three to six inches long, about an inch or an 
inch and a quarter in diameter, and nearly all the way of a size. The 
fruit contains large seeds. About the end of the summer or beginning of 
autumn, it ripens or bursts open, and the seeds appear, being when ripe, 
of a beautiful red color.

   The fruit, inside bark, and bark of the root all possess similar 
medical properties. It has a bitter aromatic taste, and when tinctured in 
spirits, makes a valuable bitter to increase the tone of the stomach. A 
free use of the tincture made pretty strong, is a good article for chronic 
rheumatism, particularly for persons of phlegmatic or weakly habits. 
Combined with dog-wood bark, it forms an excellent tonic for chills and 
fevers, or ague and fever. The tincture or decoction is an excellent 
remedy for obstructed menses, particularly where the general health is 
impaired by the obstruction; in this case it should be regularly taken, 
two or three times a day, until relief is obtained. In addition to its 
tonic properties, it acts gently on the bowels, when taken in sufficient 
quantities. The bark or fruit may be used fresh, or when first taken from 
the tree, but when properly dried, it is equally good. The inside bark or 
bark of the root and fruit, if dried, should be dried in the shade, 

Page 217

allowing them fresh air, but excluding all dampness, such as rain, dew, 
night air, &c.

TANSY.--(Tanaceum Vulgare.)
   Common tansy is a perennial plant, which is cultivated in most gardens 
in this country for medical purposes. It flowers in June and July.

   Tansy is a warm bitter accompanied with a strong flavor, which is not 
very disagreeable. It is a valuable tonic, increasing the general strength 
of the organic system.--It is valuable in preventing abortions and 
miscarriages in pregnent women, either taken in spirits, decoction or 
infusion. It should be bruised and worn around the waist, and in the shoes 
next the soles of the feet in females who are predisposed to miscarriages, 
particularly about the time miscarriage generally takes place, or when 
symptoms of misfortune approach. The expressed juice alone or combined 
with rue, worm-wood, or either and sweetened with honey or sugar, and 
given to children of a morning is an excellent worm medicine. It is a good 
article in all cases in which a poultice of bitter herb is recommended in 
this book.

PRICKLY ASH, PRICKLY ELDER.--(Aralia Spinosa.)
   Prickly ash is a perennial shrub or bush, growing mostly in rich bottom 
lands, to the height of ten or fifteen feet. The stem and branches are 
defended by sharp prickly spines. The bark is of an ash color, generally 
spotted or pided.

   The bark and berries have a warm, pungent taste. It is tonic, 
diaphoretic and carminative. The bark of the root is the most active part 
of the shrub for medical purposes, digested in spirits it forms one of the 
best bitters for chronic rheumatism, and old venerial diseases now known, 
it also good for flatulent cholic. When given in inflamatory rheumatism, 
it should be given in decoction, instead of tincture or bitters; boil, say 
an ounce of the bark in a quart of water, of this drink a pint a day, 
divided into three equal portions, taken morning, noon, and night, it may 
be diluted or weakened with water to render it less pungent and more 
palatable.

Page 218

   A tincture of the berries, or bark is good to prevent the aching of 
decayed teeth, and for persons of weakly phlegmatic or inactive habits it 
is much better than the decoction.

SOURWOOD.
   Sourwood is a native of the United States and is too well known to 
require a description.

   It is a valuable tonic in dyspepsy or indigestion. The bark or leaves 
should be extracted, then strain the decoction and boil it to the 
consistency of molasses, and sweeten it with sugar or honey, the addition 
of a small quantity of soot will aid it in tranquilizing the stomach--it 
should be taken in teaspoonful doses, morning and evening. The sourwood 
molasses combined with sugar and British or sweet oil, is also a valuable 
remedy for phthisic or asthma, and for diseases of the lungs generally.

BLACK ASH-TREE. 
[TSU-COH-NO-HUH.]
   This tree is a native of the United States, and is to be found in great 
abundance in almost every part with which I am acquainted. The inner bark 
is a valuable tonic, particularly in chronic complaints of the liver. It 
acts as a valuable tonic on the stomach, and also on the biliary system in 
general. A ley made of the ashes of the bark of this tree is a good remedy 
for influenza. The bark of this tree forms an ingredient in Foreman's anti-
bilious pills.

COLUMBO ROOT.--(Frasera Verticillata.) 
[CAH-HUH-SKEE.]
   The American Columbo is a native of the United States and grows in 
great abundance in many parts of the Southern and Western States. It is a 
stately elegant plant, and has various names, such as Columbia, Indian 
Lettuce, Meadow-pride, Marietta Columbo, and wild Columbo. Its root is 
triennial, which means lasting three years; it is rough, spindle-shaped, 
yellow, running horizontal in the ground, sometimes to the length of two 
feet. It is one of the most grand and stately looking plants in the 
American 

Page 219

forest--its stem is large and rises from five to ten feet high it is 
nearly square and furrowed at the sides, it sends off its leaves, which 
are of a deep green color, at intervals of eight or ten inches. Some of 
the leaves are radical, forming a star, spreading out on the ground, the 
remainder of them grow in whorls around the stem from four to eight to a 
whorl, each whorl as it is nigher the top, contains smaller leaves, its 
branches are few, except near the top, where they form a handsome pyramid, 
crowned with numerous flowers of a yellowish, white or cream color.

   The root is the part used, and in its fresh state or when it is first 
dug, is both cathartic and emetic, but when dry it is an excellent bitter 
tonic, acting as a powerful strengthener to the stomach in dyspsy or 
indigestion, and in dysentery or looseness of the bowels, arrising from a 
superabundance of bile; the proper mode of using it is in powders. The 
powders taken in cold water, will generally check vomiting or puking, and 
always will be found beneficial in cholics or cramps of the stomach, want 
of appetite, &c. The pulverized root steeped in good whiskey, with the 
addition of a little peppermint taken three or four times a day in table-
spoonful doses, will, in most instances, moderate the puking which so 
often occurs with pregnant women. It is a valuable medicine in fevers and 
bilious cholics in the last stages. It is antiseptic, that is, it prevents 
and removes putrifaction; for this purpose, it should be taken in a 
decoction internally and applied externally in poultice. The tincture is a 
valuable and safe family medicine, useful to strengthen the digestive 
organs and increase the appetite.

DOG-WOOD.--(Cornus Florida.)
   Dog-Wood is found in almost every part of the United States, and are so 
well known as to render a description unnecessary. Dog-wood is a tonic, 
stimulant, antiseptic and astringent. It is valuable in all cases of 
intermittent fevers, by which is meant all fevers that go off and return 
again; and the only reason why it cannot be given in other fevers, is, 
that when given in actual fever, it increases the pulse; hence you will 
see the necessity of never giving it except when the fever is entirely 
off. It is greatly superior to the peruvian bark obtained in the shops in 
all cases where the peruvian bark would be applicable. When it 

Page 220

pain or griping of the bowels, a few drops of laudanum given in the bark 
will obviate the difficulty. The bark of the root is the strongest, and 
the next in strength is the bark of the body and smaller branches. The 
bark should be taken from the root or tree and cleansed of all dirt and 
well dried before it is used, as it is less apt to affect the bowels than 
when taken in a fresh state. The best mode of administering it is in 
powders, dose is from twenty-five to thirty-five grains. The flowers in 
tea or decoction, or in spirits is good for cholic. The ripe berries of 
the dog wood, digested in good spirits of any kind, make an excellent 
bitter for common purposes and are well adapted to persons of weak 
stomachs. An excellent family bitter may be made as follows: take equal 
quantities of dogwood bark, yellow bark and sarsaparilla root, digest them 
in common spirits until the strength is extracted; this constitutes an 
excellent morning bitter for family use. The dog-wood bark boiled to a 
strong decoction, forms an excellent tonic both for persons of weakly 
habit, particularly infants, that have had their health impaired by long 
continued bowel complaints or chills and fevers, &c. The bark boiled to a 
strong decoction and thickened with wheat bran, rye or corn meal, forms a 
valuable poultice to reduce swellings, allay inflammations, &c. The 
internal use of the dog-wood, always renders the pulse quicker, and in 
some instances fuller than it naturally is.

STAR-ROOT.--(Aletris Abba.) 
[OO-WA-SCO-YOU-HU.]
   Star-Root, sometimes called Unicorn or Blazing-Star grows in low lands 
or hill sides, and often on very poor land. It has a rough, wrinkled, 
perennial root; the caudex or main root is about the thickness of the 
little finger, and the lower end often dead or rotten, from the main root 
issues many small blackish fibres, the whole root is of a dirty dark color 
and full of little holes. The leaves are radical, which means implanted in 
the ground or putting out from the root without any stem or stalk they are 
a pale evergreen, and in the winter lie flat on the ground, they are 
smooth and spear-shaped. The scapa or flower stalk rises from eight to 
eighteen inches high, upright, naked 

Page 221

and terminates in a most beautiful spike or tassel of small white flowers.

   Star-Root is a valuable tonic and general strengthener of the system, 
it is very bitter, though not unpleasant. It is excellent for woman in 
child-bed (puerperal) fever, after the tsomach and bowels have been 
emptied with the proper medicines in this disease, it should be given in a 
decoction lukewarm, two or three tea-cupsful a day. It is a great 
strengthener of the stomach and womb, and assists in casting off the 
morbid matter from the womb. This root is one of the best articles in the 
Indian Materia Medica, to prevent abortion, and is earnestly recommended 
for the constant use of pregnant women that are subject to miscarry: the 
best mode of taking it in this case, is in spirits. It is a very useful 
commonplace bitter; it is an excellent medicine when combined with other 
articles for suppressed menstruation, especially where the general health 
is impaired and a tonic or strengthener needed.

   Star-Root is good for coughs, consumptions and diseases of the lungs, 
as it not only strengthens the general system but also promotes 
expectoration and perspiration.--Dose, half a teaspoonful of the powdered 
root morning and night. It sometimes, and not unfrequently, produces 
soreness of the mouth; on the first appearance of this, its use should be 
discontinued for a time, and some other expectorant employed in its stead; 
on the disappearance of those symptoms, its use may be resumed. It is said 
by some to be good in the treatment of rheumatism, stranguary, jaundice 
and flatulent cholic.

MUSTARD--WHITE AND BLACK. 
(Sinapis Nigra et Alba.)
   Those plants need no description, being cultivated in almost every 
garden in the Union for culinary purposes.--The black Mustard is stronger 
than the white. The ground seeds are much used at table to increase the 
appetite; for this purpose it answers admirably in phlegmatic or inactive 
stomachs. A table-spoonful of the ground seeds taken on an empty stomach, 
will sometimes operate as an emetic, repeated doses of the unbruized 
seeds, will operate as a mild laxative, but its principal virtues reside 
in its tonic and stimulating properties. Digest the bruised seeds in 

Page 222

wine, and they constitute an excellent tonic in fever and ague, nervous 
fever, dropsy, palsy, &c.

   They also form a principal ingredient in the beer for palsy. The 
bruised seeds taken every morning, has of itself cured phthisic or asthma. 
In sinopisms it is good applied to the soles of the feet, to raise the 
pulse, and produce a revulsion from the head. To prepare this sinopism, or 
plaster, take the ground or bruised seeds, wet them with vineegar and 
spread them on cloths, moisten the skin also with vinegar and confine the 
plaster on the part: it may be applied by making paste and spreading it on 
cloths, and sprinkling the ground mustard-seeds over the paste, and apply 
it as above directed, after the skin has been moistened with vinegar or 
spirits. These plasters are excellent in all accute diseases, where the 
circulation is languid, and the extremities become cold.

HORSE RADISH--(Cochleari Armoracea.)
   Horse radish is a garden herb, and is common in every part of the 
country. It is a stimulant tonic, and diurretic. As a diurretic, it is 
useful in gravel, and may be taken in decoction or digested in spirits; 
the root sliced and steeped in vinegar, and used as a condiment with meat, 
is good to provoke the appetite, and is good to persons of sedentary 
habits, and weak digestive powers. The root steeped and applied 
externally, acts powerfully as a local stimulant, and is good applied to 
joints affected with rheumatisms.--Applied to the bowels and feet in 
typhus fevers, and accute diseases, it is equal to the mustard seed. A 
syrup made of the root is useful in phthisic, (asthma,) and bad colds, 
after the inflammatory stage ceases. Taken in decoction or in spirits, it 
is good for obstructed menses. It is a valuable article in palsy, 
particularly where the disease is in the tongue and mouth; for this 
purpose, chew the roots.--I should have said that the root is the only 
part used as a medicine.

BALM--(Melessa Officialalis.
   This herb is too well known to require a description.--It is gently 
stimulant and tonic. It is excellent in old colds taken night and morning, 
sweetened with honey; the addition of a little vinegar will render it much 
better, and 

Page 223

somewhat more palatable. It is valuable in typhus or nervous fevers; after 
the stomach and bowels are prepared for its use. It is also valuable in 
chills and fevers; for this purpose drink a large quantity of the tea as 
warm as it can be taken, on the approach of the chill. Balm is a very good 
family medicine, and is quite harmless in its effects.

YELLOW POPLAR--(Lirioderadran Tulipifera.)
   This noble and beautiful tree is a native of the American forest, and 
is so generally found in all parts of the country, as to render a 
description entirely unnecessary.--It is sometimes called white root, 
American Poplar, tulip tree; this last name was given it from a fancied 
resemblance between its blossoms and those of the tulip. The bark of the 
root, trunk and branches of this tree has been esteemed by the Indians as 
a most valuable medicine; this opinion is now sustained by many of the 
most distinguished physicians among the whites, both in the United States, 
and in Europe.

   The bark of the root is the most active, and is consequently preferred 
to that of the trunk or branches. It is a valuable bitter tonic, gently 
laxative, combined with the dog wood bark, it is equal, if not superior to 
the American bark, and how very strange it must appear to every reflecting 
person to see those affected with disease, paying high prices for foreign 
medicines, the strength of which must be diminished by age, and many times 
adulterated with other substances, wholly inapplicable to the diseases for 
which they are intended. while their own farms abound with an article 
equally good, if not superior to the foreign article, even if it could be 
obtained pure, and in a fresh state. The poplar bark is valuable in 
dyspepsia, in dysentery, and in chronic rheumatism. If given in acute 
rheumatism, where is also some inflammatory fever, it will increase the 
fever, and I here repeat, and hope it will be remembered by the reader, 
that stimulants should never be given in fever which continues without 
intermission; but they may always be given with advantage, and safety 
where there are periodical cessations of fever, by which is meant such 
fevers as cool off once in twenty-four or forty-eight hours. It is 
anthelmintic or a good worm medicine; the best mode of administering it 
for worms is in powder combined with 

Page 224

honey. Children that are subject to warm spasms may be entirely relieved 
by taking a tea-spoonful of the powder in honey every morning on a fasting 
stomach. It is good in cholera infantum, (puking and purging) among 
children after the stomach has been cleansed, or the puking checked by the 
use of the cholera morbus root. The pulverized bark digested in whiskey 
forms an excellent family bitter; giving a tone to the stomach and bowels, 
especially when the bowels are in a relaxed state, which require 
strengthening medicines.

   Several physicians among the whites say that in their hands it has 
entirely relieved breast complaints attended with symptoms similar to 
those of pulmonary consumption, where the patient had hectic fever 
attended with night sweats, weak bowels, &c. They administer the powder 
combined with laudanum. For women afflicted with hysterics and weakness it 
is an excellent medicine. It may be given in decoction, tincture or 
powder, but in most cases the powder is the best, except where a family 
bitter is desired. The bark should be taken from the tree in the month of 
January or February, and dried; as soon as dry it should be pulverized and 
bottled for use.

YELLOW SARSAPPARILLA. (Menispermum Canadansis.) 
[TSU-YOU-E-YOU-STEE.]
   Yellow Sarsapparilla is a native of the United States and grows mostly 
in rich moist lands, in river and creek bottoms. It has a long, yellow, 
woody, perennial root, with but few fibres, the root runs very shallow, 
and is very easily pulled from the earth. Its vine is woody, small, of a 
dark green or brown color, running from six to twelve feet high, turning 
around whatever happens to be near it. Its leaves are few and scattering, 
deeply indented, and in shape bears a strong resemblance of the maple leaf.

   The root is the part used as medicine. It is valuable in all diseases 
of the skin; it is a good laxative bitter tonic, useful in debility, 
giving tone to the stomach, and vigor to the nervous system. Where the 
system has been injured by the use of mercury and is laboring under great 
debility, it certainly is a valuable medicine. It has a gentle tendency. 

Page 225

to determine the fluids to the surface, or excite prespiration. It is good 
for weakly females, afflicted with weak stomachs and bowels; it is also 
good in the treatment of venerial--it may be used in the decoction or 
bitters.

WHITE SARSAPARILLA--(Smilax Sarsaparilla.) 
[AH-SO-E-NO-O-ONA-KER.]
   This vine is a native of the United States, and also of the Spanish 
West Indies. It is a small running vine, of a dark color outside, and a 
pale white within, the main vine is about the size of a common goose 
quill, it bears a strong resemblance to the yellow Sarsaparilla, and 
possesses similar and medical qualities, though in a more active degree; 
it is more bitter to the taste than the yellow, the leaves are not quite 
so large, and of a darker green, the root when broken is much whiter than 
that of the yellow--it does not make quite so pleasant a bitter for common 
family use as the yellow does. The white sarsaparilla grows mostly in rich 
cultivated lands, and along the borders of meadows. I have used the white 
Sarsaparilla in bitters with great success in nervous debility. It is also 
useful in dropsy, gout, scrofulous sores, diseases, and diseases induced 
by the use of mercury. For that loathsome and disgraceful disease pox, it 
is an excellent remedy: in this disease it is used in decoction in 
combination with the yellow sarsaparilla and wild mercury: it is also a 
great tonic and strengthener of the digestive organs. It is valuable in 
dyspepsia, and chronic affections of the liver. When it is taken in 
chronic diseases, or where there is no fever and much debility, it should 
be taken in spirits as bitters. But when used where there is fever, as in 
pox, &c., it should be taken in decoction, made by cutting or splitting an 
ounce of the root fine, boil it in a half gallon of water, down to a 
quart, of this, drink from a half pint to a pint a day, or in larger 
quantities if desired; for, although it possesses great power; yet it is 
entirely innocent in its operation on the system.

WILD HOARHOUND--(Eupatorium Pilorum.)
   The wild hoarhound is too well known to need a description. 

Page 226

The leaves are remarkably bitter to the taste. The leaves are the part 
used, and are a valuable laxative bitter tonic. They should be boiled to a 
very strong decoction and sweetened with honey to the consistency of 
syrup, taken in table-spoonful doses, three times a day. It is good in 
consumption and breast complaints generally; also in colds, phthisics, &c. 
It may be used in all cases where laxative tonics are required, particular 
in chronic diseases, in advanced stages where the stomach requires a 
bitter tonic. It produces a disposition to sweat, and gently increase the 
secretion of urine, these added to its tonic and cathartic properties 
render in a valuable medicine.

SNAKE HEAD--(Chelcna Glabra.)
   This plant has a perennial root, or one that is not killed by the 
frosts of winter, its stem is square sometimes erect but often bendnig. 
The flowers grow out at the end of the stem, and of different colors in 
the different varieties of this plant, as white-spotted, white red and 
purplish; the flowers in shape resembles the head of a snake, with its 
mouth open; the leaves are opposite of a dark green color, and bear a 
slight resemblance to mint leaves, they turn black on being dried, and are 
very bitter to the taste. The leaves are the best part for the medicinal 
purposes, and may be used in decoction, in powder, or tinctured in wine or 
peach brandy.

   It is a powerful bitter tonic, and acts powerfully on the digestive 
organs, it increases the appetite equal to any I have ever administered. 
Such persons as are afflicted with biles, and sores or eruptions of the 
skin, will derive great advantage from its use. It is also useful in 
fevers when a tonic is required. The powders taken in large doses is 
cathartic, and in some instances acts as well as a warm medicine; but 
should not be given when there is much excitement or fever. In worm 
complaints when there is but little fever it may be used to advantage.

ANGELLICA--(Commonly called Angellico.)
   This plant is well known and grows most plentifully on rich hill sides, 
and mountanious countries. The root 

Page 227

is possessed of the strongest medicinal virtues, but the whole plant 
partakes of the same, though in a less active degree. Combined with dog-
wood bark and yellow poplar root bark, it is a good tonic after long 
spells of ague and fever, it may be taken in spirits if preferred. The 
decoction sweetened with honey, taken at bedtime, say a gill, is good for 
colds of long standing, obstructed menses, &c. It is an excellent 
stimulating and sweating medicine, and is peculiarly adapted to weakly 
females, of nervous and phlegmatic habits. Either in decoction or tincture 
it is good for flatulent colics, and when tinctured is quite pleasant. A 
strong decoction of the root makes a very good gargle for soar throat, and 
mouth.

SOLOMON'S SEAL--(Convallaria Multiflora.) 
[OO-TE-TI-SI-KEE.]
   The leaves of this plant are of a dark green color, ribbed, clasping 
the stem, and of an oblong or oval shape. The flowers grow out along the 
side of the stalk, and forms a kind of angle with the leaves.

   The root is the part used. It is a mild tonic, and is useful in general 
debility, and diseases of the breast or lungs. It is also good for weakly 
females afflicted with whites or profuse menstruation, it may be used 
either in tea or syrrup. In dysentery or old bowel complaints it is an 
excellent remedy, and seldom fails to effect a cure if its use is 
persevered in for any length of time.

GOLDEN SEAL--(Hydrastus Canadensis.) 
[TAH-LOA-NE-GA-OO-NAH-STA-TSE.
   Golden seal has a perennial root, or one that is not killed by the 
frosts of winter, it is of a bright yellow color, the main root is 
crooked, rough, and very knotty, with many small roots or fibres. Its stem 
rises from ten to fifteen inches high, round, straight, and commonly bears 
on the top two leaves, they are rough, and bear some resemblance to the 
maple leaf. It produces but one flower which is succeeded by a beautiful 
red, fleshy berry, which contains the seeds, It is a valuable bitter 
tonic, and may be used in all cases of general debility, as it will 
strengthen the digestive organs, improve the appetite, and in 

Page 228

crease the tone and strength of the organic system throughout, it may be 
used with great advantage when recovering from fevers or other diseases 
which cause debility, it is useful in relieving the disagreeable sensation 
arising from indigestible food, which is so often experienced by those 
laboring under dyspepsy. The dose is about a tea-spoonfull of the 
pulverized root, infused in hot water. It may be used alone or combined 
with other tonics. The decoction of this root, used externally as a wash 
or bath, is good to allay local inflammations.

FENNEL, SWEET FENNEL. 
(Anethum Foenicular.
   Sweet-fennel is a garden herb, and is too well known to require a 
description. The seeds of the fennel are a pleasant aromatic tonic, 
pulverized and sweetened with honey or sugar, or in decoction sweetened; 
they are admirably adapted to pains in the stomach and bowels, colics, &c. 
There are few better articles for young children afflicted with flatulent 
colic, than sweet fennel seeds.--Given to women in labor, when the pains 
are short, followed by sickness at the stomach, they will generally 
produce good effects by relieving the sickness, and strengteening the 
system, so as to enable nature to perform her task. The fennel seeds may 
be used in bitters either alone or with other articles as they will 
greatly improve the taste of other tonics. The oil obtained from the 
fennel seeds is valuable for colds, colics, &c.

WILLOW.--(Salix.)
   There are several varieties of the Willow, all possessing similar 
properties as medicine, the white is some the strongest or most active.

   The bark of the Willow is tonic, and may be employed as a substitute 
for dog-wood or Peruvian bark. It is generally taken in decoction, say 
half a gill three or four times a day. But the principal use made of it by 
us is in poultices, made by thickening wheat bran or rye meal in a strong 
decoction of the root or bark of the root.

Page 229

(The English name not known.) 
[OO-NA-KER-OO-NAH-STA-TSE.]
   This is a small white tender looking root, never growing larger than a 
common pea and seldem so large, when the stalk is taken up several small 
balls or roots are found under it very much resembling a hill of yam-
potatoes, only so very much smaller; the external appearance of the root 
bears a strong resemblance to the artichoke, and when broken it looks 
clear like the artichoke, and possesses a taste not very dissimilar to the 
taste of that root; these little balls or roots are generally round, but 
sometimes inclined to be long, never exceeding a half inch in length to 
the best of my knowledge; these little knots or roots are attached by a 
small fiber which extends from the main root and then from one to the 
other. The stem grows from six to twelve inches high, small, smooth and 
divides into three branches, sometimes only two, near the top; each branch 
has three smooth leaves, oval and scollaped, or indented irregularly at 
the outer or extreme end of a light or pale green color, seldom if ever 
more than an inch in length and narrowed at the end which is attached to 
the stem. The stem is of a whitish purple color and not thicker than a 
course sewing needle. The stalk and leaves of this plant, bear such a 
strong resemblance to that of the cholera morbus weed, that the one is 
often mistaken for the other until the root is examined, which bears no 
likeness whatever. The root of this plant is a valuable tonic. Persons 
that have become lean and emaciated, have often recovered their flesh by 
the use of this article alone. Infants when very young, appearing to 
dwindle and pine away, will derive great benefit from the use of this 
root. The manner of using it is to bruise it and put it in cold water and 
make it a constant drink. Women that have been married for a number of 
years and had no children, on making a constant drink of this root, have 
been blessed with a healthy offspring Where the general health appears to 
be good, I believe this root will in most instances prove a cure for 
barrenness.

WILD CHERRY-TREE.--Prunus Cerasus. 
[TEX-TAH-YAH.]
   The bark of the wild cherry tree is tonic and astringent; 

Page 230

as a tonic it ranks next to the dog-wood bark, and may be combined with 
that article, with great advantage. It may be given either powdered in 
substance as the other barks are, or it may be given in decoction; a 
handful of the inner bark, to a quart of water, taken in teacupful doses 
three or four times a day. It is a good tonic in intermittent fevers, and 
in bilious fevers in the advanced stages, when tonics are requisite, the 
cherry bark, in wine or French brandy is a most excellent tonic, 
particularly where the stomach and bowels are debilitated. Like other 
tonics it should never be taken when the fever is on. The gum of the wild-
cherry tree is equal to the gum arabic obtained in the shops, and may be 
used in all cases which call for the arabic gum. The bark of the tame 
cherry tree of this country, digested in spirits makes a wholesome, and 
tolerable pleasant family bitter.

   A strong decoction of the wild cherry tree bark is valuable in the 
treatment of jaundice, as may be seen by turning to the treatment of 
jaundice, the inner bark may be bruised and taken in spirits if preferred. 
The bark of the root in decoction forms a valuable wash for old sores, and 
foul, ill conditioned ulcers.

BLACK HAW. 
[CAH-HE-CAH.]
   This shrub or bush grows in many parts of the United States; it bears a 
small fruit which is considered by some very delicious; this bush is so 
well known in the country where it grows as to render a description 
needless.

   The bark of the root of this bush is tonic and diaphoretic, combined 
with dog-wood, or wild cherry tree bark, it forms a good tonic in 
intermittent fever or ague and fever. The bark of the root in spirits, is 
a very good family bitter. When it is necessary for pregnant women to take 
a sweat, this-Haw-root bark is used combined with other articles.

CHOLERA-MORBUS ROOT 
[SAH-KO-TSE-KEE.]
   The herb is mostly found in bottoms and on the banks of the streams in 
shady places. It has a whitish, fibrous 

Page 231

root, rather small, smooth, growing from six inches to a foot high--leaves 
smooth, roundish with an indentation on each side, of a bright green 
color. The top of this bears a strong resemblance to the top of the Oo-ne-
kee-oo-nah-ste-tse. It generally grows some taller than that herb, and the 
leaves are of a brighter green. When dug they are easily distinguished; 
one having a fibrous root, and the other small balls or lumps attached by 
fine thread like roots. The root is the part used; it is tonic, 
anticeptic, antiemetic; and is a certain remedy for cholera-morbus.

IRON FILINGS.
   Commonly called steel or iron dust, is made by heating a piece of iron 
or steel to a very great heat, and rubbing it with rolls of brimstone, and 
let the melted parts drop into a vessel of water; then reduce it to a fine 
powder; and sift it through a muslin cloth; it may be given in doses of 
from 8 to 20 grains to suit the diferent age and strength of the patient. 
This is a most valuable tonic, good in dropsies, liver complaints, weak 
stomach and bowels, and in most cases of debility.

GENTAIN.
   This herb grows mostly in dry, oak and hickory land. It has a long 
round, tapering, perennial root. Sometimes of a light and other times of a 
darkish brown color. Stems are many, erect, round growing from two to 
three feet high. Leaves are opposite, lower ones connate or joined 
together, so as to have the appearance of being but one, with the stem 
passing through the centre. Flowers grow at the base of the leaves, of a 
reddish color, and are succeeeded by large, yellow berries crowned with 
four or five leaflets, which are the calyx of the flower. Flowers are from 
two to six in number. The root is the part used; it has a pleasant bitter 
taste; it is tonic, stimulant and cathartic; it is one of the best 
laxative bitter tonics in the Indian materia medica. It is one of the most 
valuable remedies for weak stomach and hysterical affections; for this 
purpose, it may be taken in spirits or bitters. It may also be taken 
infused in doses of a tea-cupful 

Page 232

three or four times a day. It is an excellent medicine for dyspesy, either 
alone or combined with other articles--it prevents the food from souring 
and oppressing the stomach in short it is one of the best common place 
medicines in my knowledge.

CLASS No. V.
ASTRINGENTS.
   Astringents are medicines that are used to render the solids more dense 
and firm, in order to correct debility and looseness. They exercise a very 
powerful and extensive influence on the system and are of greater or less 
utility in the treatment of most diseases which the human family are 
subject. In the incipient or forming stages of diseases, this class of 
medicines, if properly administered, will often throw it off entirely. 
Their free use when recovering from disease, has a tendency to prevent 
relapses. Medicines of this class must be used sparingly, or omitted 
altogether in some cases, such as obstinate costiveness, high fever, 
attended with extreme dryness of the mouth, &c. Astringent tonics, are 
such as relieve floodings and hemorrhages of every kind and may be 
advantageously employed in all profuse evacuations and relaxed states of 
the system.

NEVER WET. 
[CAH-NA-SEE.]
   This valuable and singular plant is found growing in the water, 
particulary in slow running spring branches, in the Southern parts of the 
United States. The stem always grows to the surface of the water let it be 
what depth it may, before its leaf comes out; the leaf always lies on the 
surface of the water, it is from six to twelve inches long 

Page 233

and two or three inches wide: its color is a pale or light green: its 
surface is remarkably smooth and glossy as if covered over with oil, so 
that the water will not wet it--from this circumstance it takes its name 
Never Wet. The whole leaf is very tender, thick and fleshy. They are 
excellent, wilted or scalded and spread on burns of any kind. They may be 
bruised or beaten and applied in the form of a poultice; they are also a 
good dressing for blisters and ulcers, or sores of almost every kind, 
giving much relief to the pain so generally experienced in scalds burns, 
sores and other inflammations.

BALM OF GILEAD.--(Amyris, Gildensis.)
   The tree known in this country by this name, is mostly cultivated as an 
ornament for yards. The genuine Balm of Gilead is a native of Asia, and 
grows near the city of Mecca, on the Asiatic side of the Red Sea. That 
growing in Gilead, was anciently esteemed the best, and was thot by the 
ancients to possess remedial virtues for almost every disease--hence this 
tree received the name of the Balm of Gilead.

   The American Gilead is a species of this tree, and as I before told 
you, is mostly cultivated as a yard ornament in the Southern and middle 
States, it cannot bear the severity of Northern winters. Its leaves are 
large, smooth and beautiful, nearly of a heart shape. The bark of the 
young tree is smooth, both the bark and leaves resemble those of the 
lumbardy poplar, but it does not grow so tall and erect.

   The tincture of the buds is good for cholic, old bowel complaints, both 
among children and grown persons; it is also good for chronic rheumatism 
and may be rendered better for the rheumatism by adding the bark of 
prickly ash. For rheumatism, the tincture of the buds must be applied 
externally to the affected part, and a tincture of prickly ash bark and 
the Gilead buds drank as bitters, say three times a day. This tincture is 
also good for old venereal complaints; steeped in water or taken in 
tincture. It is excellent for persons of weakly phlegmatic habits.--The 
bark and leaves possess medicinal virtues, but in a less active degree 
than the buds. The buds stewed in deer or sheep suet, makes a most 
excellent salve, when combined 

Page 234

in proper proportions, but if too strong with the buds, it will irritate 
the wound and make it worse. The buds are valuable in salves or ointments, 
for tetter-worm, scald head, burns, &c. The tincture of the buds, or gum 
or rosin off of the buds put into the hollow of an aching tooth, will 
generally give relief. The buds are found on the tree nearly all the year, 
they are large of a brownish color, and contain a considerable quantity of 
a kind of a gum-rosin or balsam. A syrup made of the buds and sweetened 
with honey is an excellent wash for the sore mouth.

THE OAK.--(Quercus.) 
[GEE-GAH-GAY-AH-TAH-YAH.]
   We have several species of the Oak, as the black, white, red, &c., all 
possessing similar medical qualities. The bark is the part used, and is 
astringent, ionic, and antiseptic.

   After long fevers, intermittents, indigestion, chronic dysentery, or 
any debility of the system, it is a most valuable astringent tonic--in 
decoction is the best mode of using it. It constitutes the best bathe in 
my knowledge for persons of weak, debilitated or relaxed habits. Repeated 
instances have occurred, in which persons, especially children, have been 
reduced to mere skeletons, by long continued bowel complaints, their 
stomachs had become so irritable as to render it impossible to relieve 
them by medicines taken internally, and were restored to health by bathing 
in a strong decoction of the Oak bark twice a day. The decoction thickened 
and applied as a poultice, is good to reduce inflammation and prevent 
mortification. I believe the red oak to be the best for poultices. 
Children afflicted with chills and fevers, when too young to take tonics 
into the stomach; have often been relieved by bathing them in a strong 
decoction of dog-wood and red oak bark at the time when the fever was off, 
and applying the pulverized bark of the dog-wood to the waist, wrists and 
ankles, by the means of