Colonial North America: Countway Library of Medicine

78

Materia Medica

Astringents

hospital, the injection was Ʒiv [4 drams] to ℥viij [8 ounces] of Aqua font.

Yellow Gum Resin. This is nearly a pure gum. It is obtained from Botony Bay. It is now the fashionable astringent of London. It has not yet found its way into the practice of the American Physician. Terra Japonica or Catechu. The name terra Japonica is verry improper for Catechu is a vegitable inspissated juice. Dr Cullen says it is a tolerable powerfull astringent and he has often experienced its effects in Diarrheas and Dysentaries, he has never used it in Fluor Albus. I have but little experience in this medicine and am inclined to think it of little worth, its virtues are equally extracted by alkahol and water, it has no disagreeable smell or taste, it is never pure as brought to us. Uva Ursi. The whortleberry is the arbutus, Uva Ursi of Linneus, this plant is common to the Old and New world, it grows in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, it is an evergreen trailing on the ground and verry similar to our hustlebeery, to which it is verry properly allied, that it possesses a considerable degree of astringency we infer from its taste, and from the black colour produced by the sulfate of Iron. It has an agreeable bitter and when

146

Materia Medica

Tonics

but it is not. It is the produce of a tree in the East Indies, where it is used as a specific for the bite of a snake. The seed of the plant is the nux vomica of the shops, it is of an Orange colour and intensely bitter and disagreeable to the taste. It contains a gum and a resin. It is fatal to dogs Conrad Gisnac gave a dog ℈fs [½ scruple] he fell a sleep and died convulsed in a few hours, but it was not a true sleep accompanied with stupor and insensibility. It has been used in intermittant fevers in doses of grs v [5 grains], it is internally and externally as an anthelmintic, the spiritous tincture has been found usefull in Lumbrica cotton dipped in it and appli'd to the umbilicus has expelled them.

Fumaria Officinalis. Fumitory is not a native of this country, but will grow in our gardens, it is a bitter without odour, the inspissated Juice when efforesced leaves a substance which diflagrates like nitre on the coals. Hoffman esteemed it the sweetener of the blood, by this he ment a purifier, he held the humeral Pathology, we may observe that some of those medicines called sweeteners are verry active. Dr Hutchinson says he cured a case of leprae, accompanied with glandular swellings by the use of this medicine. Stanbury found it usefull in herpes,

270

Materia Medica

Stimulants

procuring opium is by incisions into head of poppies out of which ooses [oozes] the juice, it then becomes inspissated, this is the best method in my opinion, it is sometimes procured by boiling and then inspissating the liquor, and also by bruising the heads of the popies and pressing out the juice. Opium frequently comes to us in an adulterated state, it is generally adulterated with the common lettuice of our gardens. Dr Cox of this City proves that this vegitable contains opium, large poppy fields in this country I think would probably prove injurious, because they would in my opinion would frequently be resorted to for relief from sorrow and distress, the effects of opium when applied to the living animal fibres externally, when applied to the eye, Urethra, and other tender parts it first produces pain and a sense of heat but afterwards the sensibility of heat is diminished, its stimulating effects to the urethra should by no means prohibit the use of it in affections of those parts, as in Gonorrhea since it may be used without the smalest injury to the patient. Whither opium when externally applied exerts any decided effects on the system is a question where authors disagree. Dr Crumps experiments proves that it does, while