Colonial North America: Countway Library of Medicine

138

Materia Medica

Tonics

menstrua so that they reside in a resin. Dr Percival thought it corrected the pubescency of bile, he took a ℈i [1 scruple] which had no effect on his pulse, he recommends it in yellow fever but I hope no Physician will trust the cure to this medicine; but it is only in the second stage it can be usefull, he used it also in vomiting, Cholera Infantium &c. Dr Percival says it is most agreeable when combined with Cort. Aurant. bit. Dr Cullen says it is little used in Britain and possesses no peculiar power in correcting pubescency, he says he has used it in Cholera Morbus without any previous purging with the happiest effects. Dr G Brown says he does not think it entitled to the encomium it has received. In chlorosis it has been used by Dr Johnson in large doses with the happiest effects Dr Monroe and Haygarth found it usefull in billious fevers. In dispepsia it is one of the most powerfull and and agreeable bitters we know. I prefer the root in substance, the wartery infusion or decoction should never be used, except it be given in a days time, for the mucilage it contains will ferment and it will not be fit for use. I have used the powder with the rust of Iron this is a most powerfull tonic the dose should be regulated