Part 9

259. ROSA centifolia. DAMASK ROSE. Petals. L. E. D.--In distillation with water, it yields a small portion of a butyraceous oil, whose flavour exactly resembles that of the roses. This oil, and the distilled water, are very useful and agreeable cordials. Hoffmann strongly recommends them as of singular efficacy for raising the strength, cheering and recruiting the spirits, and allaying pain; which they perform without raising any heat in the constitution, rather abating it when inordinate. Although the damask rose is recommended by Dr. Woodville, yet, having grown this article for sale, I find that the preference is always given to the Provence rose by those who distil them.

260. ROSA gallica. RED OFFICINAL ROSE. Petals. L. E. D.-This has very little of the fragrance of the foregoing sort; it is a mild and grateful astringent, especially before the flower has opened: this is considerably improved by hasty exsiccation, but both the astringency and colour are impaired by slow drying. In the shops are prepared a conserve and a tincture.

261. ROSA canina. DOG-ROSE. The Pulp of the Fruit. L. E.-The fruit, called heps or hips, has a sourish taste, and obtains a place in the London Pharmacopoeia in the form of a conserve: for this purpose, the seeds and chaffy fibres are to be carefully removed; for, if these prickly fibres are not entirely scraped off from the internal surface of the hips, the conserve is liable to produce considerable irritation on the primae viae.

262. ROSMARINUS officinalis. ROSEMARY. Tops. L. E. D.--Rosemary has a fragrant smell and a warm pungent bitterish taste, approaching to those of lavender: the leaves and tender tops are strongest; next to these the cup of the flower; the flowers themselves are considerably the weakest, but most pleasant. Aqueous liquors extract great share of the virtues of rosemary leaves by infusion, and elevate them in distillation: along with the water arises a considerable quantity of essential oil, of an agreeable strong penetrating smell. Pure spirit extracts in great perfection the whole aromatic flavour of the rosemary, and elevates very little of it in distillation: hence the resinous mass left upon abstracting the spirit, proves an elegant aromatic, very rich in the peculiar qualities of the plant. The flowers of rosemary give over great part of their flavour in distillation with pure spirit; by watery liquors, their fragrance is much injured; by beating, destroyed.

263. RUBIA tinctorum. MADDER. Roots. L. E. D.--It has little or no smell; a sweetish taste, mixed with a little bitterness. The virtues attributed to it are those of a detergent and aperient; whence it has been usually ranked among the opening roots, and recommended in obstructions of the viscera, particularly of the kidneys, in coagulations of the blood from falls or bruises, in the jaundice, and beginning dropsies.

It is observable, that this root, taken internally, tinges the urine of a deep red colour; and in the Philosophical Transactions we have an account of its producing a like effect upon the bones of animals which had it mixed with their food: all the bones, particularly the more solid ones, were changed, both externally and internally, to a deep red, but neither the fleshy nor cartilaginous parts suffered any alteration: some of these bones macerated in water for many weeks together, and afterwards steeped and boiled in spirit of wine, lost none of their colour, nor communicated any tinge to the liquors.

264. RUMEX Acetosa. SORREL. Leaves. L.--These have an agreeable acid taste. They have the same medicinal qualities as the Oxalis Acetosella, and are employed for the same purposes.

Sorrel taken in considerable quantities, or used prepared for food, will be found of great advantage when a refrigerant and antiscorbutic regimen is required.--Woodville's Med. Bot.

265. RUTA graveolens. RUE. Leaves. L. E. D.--These are powerfully stimulating, attenuating, and detergent: and hence, in cold phlegmatic habits, they quicken the circulation, dissolve tenacious juices, open obstructions of the excretory glands, and promote the fluid secretions. The writers on the Materia Medica in general have entertained a very high opinion of the virtues of this pant. Boerhaave is full of its praises; particularly of the essential oil, and the distilled water cohobated or redistilled several times from fresh parcels of the herb: after somewhat extravagantly commending other waters prepared in this manner, he adds, with regard to that of rue, that the greatest commendations he can bestow upon it fall short of its merit: "What medicine (says he) can be more efficacious for promoting perspiration, in cases of epilepsies, and for expelling poison?" Whatever service rue may be of generally, it undoubtedly has its use in the two last cases: the cohobated water, however, is not the most efficacious preparation.

266. SALIX fragilis. CRACK WILLOW. Bark. L. D.-The bark of the branches of this tree manifests a considerable degree of bitterness to the taste, and is also astringent; hence it has been thought a good substitute for the Peruvian bark, and, upon trial, was found to stop the paroxysms of intermittents: it is likewise recommended in other cases requiring tonic or astringent remedies. Not only the bark of this species of Salix, but that of several others, possess similar qualities, particularly of the Salix alba pentandria, and capraea, all of which are recommended in foreign Pharmacopoeias. But, in our opinion, the bark of the Salix triandria is more effectual than that of any other of this genus; at least, its sensible qualities give it a decided preference.--Woodville's Med Bot.

267. SALVIA officinalis. GREEN AND RED SAGE. Herb. E. D.--Its effects are, to moderately warm and strengthen the vessels; and hence, in cold phlegmatic habits, it excites appetite, and proves serviceable in debilities of the nervous system.

The red sage, mixed with honey and vinegar, is used for a gargle in sore throats. Aqueous infusions of the leaves, with the addition of a little lemon juice, prove an useful diluting drink in febrile disorders, of an elegant colour, and sufficiently acceptable to the palate.

268. SAMBUCUS nigra. COMMON ELDER. Flowers and Berries. L. E. D.--The parts of the Sambucus which are proposed for medicinal use in the Pharmacopoeias, are the inner bark, the flowers, and the berries. The flowers have an agreeable flavour, which they give over in distillation with water, and impart by infusion, both to water and rectified spirit: on distilling a large quantitiy of them with water, a small portion of a butyraceous essential oil separates. Infusions made from the fresh flowers are gently laxative and aperient; when dry, they are said to promote chiefly the cuticular excretion, and to be particularly serviceable in erysipetalous and eruptive disorders.--Woodville's Med. Bot. 598.

269. SCILLA maritima. SQUILL. Root. L. E. D.--This root is to the taste very nauseous, intensely bitter and acrimonious; much handled, it exulcerates the skin. With regard to its medical virtues, it powerfully stimulates the solids, and attenuates viscid juices; and by these qualities promotes expectoration, urine, and perspiration: if the dose is considerable, it proves emetic, and sometimes purgative. The principal use of this medicine is where the primae viae abound with mucous matter, and the lungs are oppressed by tenacious phlegm.

270. SCROPHULARIA nodosa. KNOTTY FIGWORT. Herb. D.--The roots are of a white colour, full of little knobs or protuberances on the surface: this appearance gained it formerly some repute against scrophulous disorders and the piles; and from hence it received its name: but modern practitioners expect no such virtues from it. It has a faint unpleasant smell, and a somewhat bitter disagreeable taste.

271. SINAPIS nigra. BLACK MUSTARD. Seeds. L. E. D.--By writers on the Materia Medica, mustard is considered to promote appetite, assist digestion, attenuate viscid juices, and, by stimulating the fibres, to prove a general remedy in paralytic and rheumatic affections. Joined to its stimulant qualities, it frequently, if taken in considerable quantity, opens the body, and increases the urinary discharge; and hence has been found useful in dropsical complaints.--Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 404.

272. SINAPIS alba. WHITE MUSTARD. Seeds. L. E. D.--These have been recommended to be taken whole in cases of rheumatism and have been known to produce considerable relief.

273. SISYMBRIUM Nasturtium. WATER-CRESSES. Herb. E.-Hoffman recommends this as of singular efficacy for accelerating the circulation, strengthening the viscera, opening obstructions of the glands, promoting the fluid secretions, and purifying the blood and humours: for these purposes, the expressed juice, which contains the peculiar taste and pungency of the herb, may be taken in doses of an ounce or two, and continued for a considerable time.

274. SIUM nodiflorum. CREEPING WATER-PARSNEP. The Root. D.-This plant has not been admitted into the Materia Medica of any of the Pharmacopoeias which we have seen, except that of the London College, into which it was received in the character of an antiscorbutic, or rather as the corrector of acrid humours, especially when manifested by cutaneous eruptions and tumours in the lymphatic system, for which we have the testimony of Beirie and Ray; but the best proofs of its efficacy are the following given by Dr. Withering: "A young lady, six years old, was cured of an obstinate disease by taking three large spoonfuls of the juice twice-a-day; and I have repeatedly given to adults three or four ounces every morning in similar complaints with the greatest advantage. It is not nauseous; and children take it readily if mixed with milk. In the dose I have given, it neither affects the head, the stomach, nor the bowels." Woodville's Med. Bot. 146.

275. SMILAX Sarsaparilla. SARSAPARILLA. Root. L. E. D.--This root was first brought into Europe by the Spaniards, about the year 1565, with the character of a specific for the cure of the lues venerea, which made its appearance a little before that time, and likewise of several obstinate chronic disorders. Whatever good effects it might have produced in the warmer climates, it proved unsuccessful in this. It appears, however, from experience, that though greatly unequal to the character which it bore at first, it is in some cases of considerable use as a sudorific, where more acrid medicines are improper.

276. SOLANUM Dulcamara. BITTERSWEET. Stalk. L. D.--The taste of the twigs and roots, as the name of the plant expresses, is both bitter and sweet; the bitterness being first perceived, and the sweet afterwards. They are commended for resolving coagulated blood, and as a cathartic, diuretic, and deobstruent.

277. SOLIDAGO Virga aurea. GOLDEN ROD. Flowers and Leaves. D.--The leaves have a moderately astringent bitter taste, and hence prove serviceable in debility and laxity of the viscera, and disorders proceeding from that cause.

278. SPARTIUM scoparium. BROOM. Tops and Seeds. L. D.-These have a nauseous bitter taste: decoctions of them loosen the belly, promote urine, and stand recommended in hydropic cases. The flowers are said to prove cathartic in decoction, and emetic in substance, though in some places, as Lobel informs us, they are commonly used, and in large quantity, in salads, without producing any effect of this kind. The qualities of the seeds are little better determined: some report that they purge almost as strongly as hellebore, in the dose of a dram and a half; whilst the author above mentioned relates, that he has given a decoction of two ounces of them as a gentle emetic.

279. SPIGELLA marylandica. WORM GRASS. Root. L. E. D.-About forty years ago, the anthelmintic virtues of the root of this plant were discovered by the Indians; since which time it has been much used here. I have given it in hundreds of cases, and have been very attentive to its effects. I never found it do much service, except when it proved gently purgative. Its purgative quality naturally led me to give it in febrile diseases which seem to arise from viscidity in the primae viae; and in these cases it succeeded to admiration, even when the sick did not void worms.

To a child of two years of age who had been taking ten grains of the root twice a-day without having any other effect than making her dull and giddy, I prescribed twenty-two grains morning and evening, which purged her briskly, and brought away five large worms. [Communications from Dr. Gardner.]-Woodville's Med. Bot.

280. TANACETUM vulgare. TANSY. Herb. E. D.--Considered as a medicine, it is a moderately warm bitter, accompanied with a strong, not very disagreeable flavour. Some have had a great opinion of it in hysteric disorders, particularly those proceeding from a deficiency or suppression of the usual course of nature.

281. TEUCRIUM Marum. CAT THYME. Herb. D.--The leaves have an aromatic bitterish taste; and, when rubbed betwixt the fingers, a quick pungent smell, which soon affects the head, and occasions sneezing: distilled with water, they yield a very acrid, penetrating essential oil, resembling one obtained by the same means from scurvy-grass. These qualities sufficiently point out the uses to which this plant might be applied; at present, it is little otherwise employed than in cephalic snuffs.

282. TEUCRIUM Chamaedrys. GERMANDER. Herb. D.--The leaves, tops, and seeds, have a bitter taste, with some degree of astringency and aromatic flavour. They were recommended as sudorific, diuretic, and emmenagogue, and for strengthening the stomach and viscera in general. With some they have been in great esteem in intermittent fevers; as also in scrophulous and other chronic disorders.

283. TORMENTILLA erecta. TORMENTIL, or UPRIGHT SEPTFOIL. Root. L. E. D. --The root is the only part of this plant which is used medicinally; it has a strong styptic taste, but imparts no peculiar sapid flavour. This has been long held in great estimation as an astringent. Dr. Cullen has used it with gentian with great effect in intermittent fevers. Lewis recommends an ounce and a half of the powdered root to be boiled in three pints of water to a quart, adding towards the end of the boiling a dram of cinnamon. Of the strained liquor, sweetened with an ounce of any agreeable syrup, two ounces or more may be taken four or five times a-day.

284. TUSSILAGO Farfara. COLTSFOOT. Herb. L. E. D.--Tussilago stands recommended in coughs and other disorders of the breast and lungs: the flowers were an ingredient in the pectoral decoction of the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia.

285. VALERIANA officinalis. VALERIAN. Root. L. E. D.--Valerian is a medicine of great use in nervous disorders, and is particularly serviceable in epilepsies proceeding from a debility in the nervous system. It was first brought into esteem in these cases by Fabius Columna, who by taking the powdered root, in the dose of half a spoonful, was cured of an inveterate epilepsy after many other medicines had been tried in vain. Repeated experience has since confirmed its efficacy in this disorder; and the present practice lays considerable stress upon it.

286. VERATRUM album. WHITE HELLEBORE. Root. L. E. D.-The root has a nauseous, bitterish, acrid taste, burning the mouth and fauces: wounded when fresh, it emits an extremely acrimonious juice, which mixed with the blood, by a wound, is said to prove very dangerous: the powder of the dry root, applied to an issue, occasions violent purging: snuffed up the nose, it proves a strong, and not always a safe, sternutatory. This root, taken internally, acts with extreme violence as an emetic, and has been observed, even in a small dose, to occasion convulsions and other terrible disorders. The ancients sometimes employed it in very obstinate cases, and always made this their last resource.

Similar Plant.--Gentiana lutea, which see.

287. VERONICA Beccabunga. BROOKLIME. Herb. L. D.--This plant was formerly considered of great use in several diseases, and was applied externally to wounds and ulcers; but if it have any peculiar efficacy, it is to be derived from its antiscorbutic virtue.

As a mild refrigerant juice, it is preferred where an acrimonious state of the fluids prevails, indicated by prurient eruptions upon the skin, or in what has been called the hot scurvy.--Woodville's Med. Bot. 364.

288. VITIS vinifera. GRAPE VINE. Raisins and different Wines. L. E.-- These are to cheer the spirits, warm the habit, promote perspiration, render the vessels full and turgid, raise the pulse, and quicken the circulation. The effects of the full-bodied wines are much more durable than those of the thinner; all sweet wines, as Canary, abound with a glutinous nutritious substance; whilst the others are not nutrimental, or only accidentally so by strengthening the organs employed in digestion: sweet wines in general do not pass off freely by urine, and heat the constitution more than an equal quantity of any other, though containing full as much spirit: red port, and most of the red wines, have an astringent quality, by which they strengthen the tone of the stomach and intestines, and thus prove serviceable for restraining immoderate secretions: those which are of an acid nature, as Renish, pass freely by the kidneys, and gently loosen the belly: it is supposed that these last exasperate, or occasion gout and calculous disorders, and that new wines of every kind have this effect.

The ripe fruit of grapes, of which there are several kinds, properly cured and dried, are the raisins and currants of the shops: the juice of these also, by fermentation, affords wine as well as vinegar and tartar.

The medical use of raisins is, their imparting a very pleasant flavour both to aqueous and spiritous menstrua. The seeds or stones are supposed to give a disagreeable relish, and hence are generally directed to be taken out: nevertheless I have not found that they have any disagreeable taste.--Lewis's Mat. Med.

289. ULMUS campestris. ELM. Bark. L. E. D.--The leaves have a bitterish astringent taste, and are recommended in powder, to the extent of at least two drams a-day, in ulcerations of the urinary passages and catarrhus vesicae. The powder has been used with opium, the latter being gradually increased to a considerable quantity, in diabetes, and it is said with advantage. Some use it for alleviating the dyspeptic symptoms in nephritic calculous ailments.--Lewis's Mat. Med.

290. RHODODENDRON Chrysanthemum. YELLOW-FLOWERED RHO-DODENDRON. E. The Leaves.--This species of Rhododendron has lately been introduced into Britain: it is a native of Siberia, affecting mountainous situations, and flowering in June and July.

Little attention was paid to this remedy till the year 1779, when it was strongly recommended by Koelpin as an efficacious medicine, not only in rheumatism and gout, but even in venereal cases; and it is now very generally employed in chronic rheumatisms in various parts of Europe. The leaves, which are the part directed for medicinal use, have a bitterish subastringent taste, and, as well as the bark and young branches, manifest a degree of acrimony. Taken in large doses they prove a narcotic poison, producing those symptoms which we have described as occasioned by many of the order Solanaceae.

Dr. Home, who tried it unsuccessfully in some cases of acute rheumatism, says, it appears to be one of the most powerful sedatives which we have, as in most of the trials it made the pulse remarkably slow, and, in one patient, reduced it 38 beats. And in other cases in which the Rhododendron has been used at Edinburgh, it has been productive of good effects; and, accordingly, it is now introduced into the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia.

The manner of using this plant by the Siberians was, by putting two drams of the dried leaves in an earthen-pot with about ten ounces of boiling-water, keeping it near a boiling heat for a night, and this they took in the morning; and by repeating it three or four times it generally affected a cure. It is said to occasion heat, thirst, a degree of delirium, and a peculiar sensation of the parts affected.-- Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 239.

* * * * *

SECT. VIII.--MEDICINAL PLANTS not contained in either of the BRITISH DISPENSATORIES.

For the use of the Medical Student I selected in the foregoing section such plants as are contained in the Pharmacopoeias of the present day: but there are many mentioned in Woodville's Medical Botany, Lewis's Dispensatory, &c. which, although discarded from the College list, are nevertheless still used by medical practitioners and others.

It would be difficult to give a full history of all the plants that have from time to time been recommended for medical uses. The old writers, as Gerard, Parkinson, Lyte, &c. attributed medical virtues to all the plants which came under their notice; and, on the other hand, as we observed above, the vegetable department of the Pharmacopoeias has from time to time been reduced so much, that, if we had confined ourselves to that alone, we fear our little treatise on this head would, by many persons, be thought defective. The following list is therefore given, as containing what are used, though probably not so much by practitioners in medicine, as by our good housewives in the country, who, without disparagement to medical science, often relieve the distresses of their families and neighbours by the judicious application of drugs of this nature, and many of which are also sold for the same purposes in the London herb-shops.

291. ACANTHUS mollis. SMOOTH BEARS-BREECH. The Leaves.--Are of a soft sweetish taste, and abound with a mucilaginous juice: its virtues do not seem to differ from those of Althea and other mucilaginous plants.

292. ACHILLA Ptarmica. SNEEZEWORT. The Root.--The roots have and acrid smell, and a hot biting taste: chewed, they occasion a plentiful discharge of saliva; and when powdered and snuffed up the nose, provoke sneezing. These are sold at the herb-shops as a substitute for pellitory of Spain.

293. ACHILLEA Ageratum. MAUDLIN. The Leaves and Flowers.--This has a light agreeable smell; and a roughish, somewhat warm and bitterish taste. These qualities point out its use as a mild corroborant; but it has long been a stranger in practice, and is now omitted both by the London and Edinburgh Colleges. It is however in use by the common people.

294. ACHILLEA Millefolium. YARROW. The Leaves.--The leaves have a rough bitterish taste, and a faint aromatic smell. Their virtues are those of a very mild astringent, and as such they stand recommended in haemorrhages both internal and external, diarrhoeas, debility and laxity of the fibres; and likewise in spasmodic hysterical affections.

295. AJUGA reptans. BUGLE. The Leaves.--These have at first a sweetish taste, which gradually becomes bitterish and roughish. They are recommended as vulnerary medicines, and in all cases where mild astringents or corroborants are proper.

296. ALCHEMILLA vulgaris. LADY'S MANTLE. The Leaves.--These discover to the taste a moderate astringency, and were formerly much esteemed in some female weaknesses, and in fluxes of the belly. They are now rarely made use of; though both the fresh leaves and roots might doubtless be of service in cases where mild astringents are required.

297. AMMI majus. BISHOPS-WEED. The Seeds.--The seeds of common bishops-weed are large and pale-coloured: their smell and taste are weak, and without any thing of the origanum flavour of the true ammi, which does not grow in this country. They are ranked among the four lesser hot seeds, but are scarcely otherwise made use of than as an ingredient in the theriaca.--Lewis's Mat. Med.