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        INDIAN DOCTOR'S

D1SPEXSATOBY,

    OR EVERY MAN HIS OWN

       PHYSICIAN.

     BY As F. SMITH & J. MERWIK.
      HAMILTON:
PRINTED AT THE WESLEYAN OFFICE.
    J. HOGAN, PRINTER.
        1833. 
 
PREFACE.
   The authors are confident, that from their long
 experience among almost every Tribe of Indians
 in the United States, together with an  experience
 of more than forty years of constant practice  in
 almost every State in the Union, and have spared
 no pains nor expense to gain all the best informa-
 tion  and knowledge they possibly could,  from the
 most able and  skilful Physicians, with their own
 experience, and the  earnest solicitations  of their
 friends in different places, to publish the following
 work.  The authors think it a duty they  owe to
 their Creator, and their fellow mortals,  to give to
 the world a knowledge  of the healing  arts in  aa
 concise and plain a manner as possible, so that the
 most illiterate and unlearned can understand.
  We are well aware  of the craft that has been
 practised by Apothecary Doctors for  ages, who
 feel an interest in keeping the community in ignor-
 ance, to obtain their own ends, by endeavoring  to
 prejudice the  minds  of the  people,  by calling all
 those that practice witli Roots and Herbs  by the
 name of Quacks, though they may be ever bo skil-
ful ;  but many of those Medical Gentlemen here
acknowledged,  that after their utmost exeribof,
> 
IY
PREFACE.
their skill have in many instances been baffled, and
they have given the patient up for lost, who has
afterwards been effectually cured by a poor Indian,
or persons practising with a few Roots and Herbs,
which the God of nature  has planted in  nature's
garden on this side of the Atlantic, and taught the
inhabitants of the woods the use of;  although we
are well satisfied,  from experience, that  in many
cases it is very necessary to use some Apothecary
Medicine ;  therefore, we have not confined our-
selves to Bottany alone.   We are not of the stren-
uous opinion of Doctor Thomson, who gained a
patent right from the United States to sell the art
of healing, and confined himself to Botany only,
and wrote his book  in that blind  manner,  it was
but little use to those who paid twenty-five dollars
for it. But we have not endeavored to varnish over
with false gloss, or strove to blind  the public, nor
have we  made use of technical teims, but endeav-
ored to give all the light on the subject we could in
the way  we have written ; and for which we have
already  suffered  much  persecution from Apo-
thecary Doctors, in consequence of our endeavors
to open the eyes of the  blind, and  become ac-
quainted with the arts of  healing,  that have been
for ages  in the hands of Indians,  as well  as the
whites,  which  has cost  us  much  labour  and
pains; therefore, we think it no more  than just
that  they should be  rewarded  for  their many
years study & fatigue which they have underwent. 
PREFACE.
r
The authors have  paid large sums of money to
procure receipts for many diseases, which, with
their own observations, in many instances will be
very advantageous  to have laid before the world
in its true light.   We are fully persuaded that any
person raising a family, by purchasing one of these
books, would save  the price of it probably in one
year, and perhaps the  life of some of their little
family, by following the directions  of those  that
have no other motive but to do good to their fellow
men.  Almost  any  disease  in  its  first stages is
easily removed, if  there is proper measures  made
use of, and proper medicines given  ; but people in
many places are so led away by Apothecary Doc-
tors, they dare not do  any  thing for  themselves,
but send some thirty or forty miles for a Doctor,
and before he can be obtained, if the patient is
violently taken, the disease  becomes  seated, and
they must go through a course of medicine before
they can be relieved,  which, in the first  appear-
ance of  the disease, could  have  been cured  in
3 hours.  It is natural to the human family, while
in health, to be careless about themselves, putting
sickness and death a great way off,  like the sinner,
as the good old book tells us, putting far away the
evil day, until a more convenient season, and then
I will call upon thee.   But as the proverb says,
" prepare for sickness in health,  and in  youth
prepare  for old age, that you may not be taken un-
awares." Procrastination is the thief of time—and 
vi               PREFACE.
 men seldom have wit enough to prize  and tako
 care of their health until they lose it, and Doctors
 often know not how to get their bread  deservedly,
 until they have no teeth  to chew it.
   There could be a folio written on this subject;
 but suffice it to say, if you will come to the light
 you may come.
   We, the undersigned,  have been well acquaint-
 ed with Doctors A. F. Smith  and J. Merwiit,
 who offer to the public a Book,  entitled  the  /n-
 dian Doctor's Dispensatory, containing almost eve-
 ry disease that is incident to the human family in
North  America, with the Healing Medicine to le-
 move the same, if properly administered, accord-
ing to the  plans and explanations laid down  in
this work.
  STATE OF NEW  FORK.
L. (Jure, Circuit Judge,
B.Johnson, Att'yatlaw,
Benj. Drake,  Esq.,
Charles Benjamin,  Esq.,
Joseph Daney, Esq.,
Jesse Merilt, Esq.,
Rev. Win. Weasner,
Rev. G. W. Denison.
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
diaries Earle, Judge,
John Strong, Attorney,
John Wilkinson, do.
Doctor J. day,
Doctor G. Gidian,
Doct. Wm. Todd,
 STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Rev. Charles Nicholds,
Rev. James Doty,
David Ryers, Esq.
William Kindrick,  Esq.,
John Vanllorn, Esq.,
Ira Tilbitson, Esq.
Win. Blaiuey, Esq.
      DELAWARE.
Michael Beaty, Coroner,
James Rykeman, Au'y.,
R. H. Weaver, Attorney,
Wm. Gleason, Esq.,
D. R. VanRanseller, Esq. 
INTRODUCTION.
                 CHAPTER I.
  The Doctrine of Respiration we think somewhat
important, because  it will show the necessity of
breathing good air.
  An Indian, it is storied, when  asked what he
thought was the reason of the  ebbing and flow-
ing of the tide, made answer:  " Yoa know there
is a  great deal of odds between a  big creature
and a little one ; a horse draws his breath a great
deal  slower than a mouse: the world is a big crea-
ture—he draws his breath only twice in  the day
and night; that  makes the tide.
  Now our  intention is not to enquire about the
tide,  but to state to you how we think we draw our
breath,  or respire.
  We consider the lungs to be the  pump of Fife.—
Fresh, cool air, drawn into the lungs or lights, im-
mediately is rarefied by their heat, and is directly
forced back again,  in the same way that it was
taken in ; then we are by some means (volunta-
ry or involuntary) disposed to  fill ourselves again
with  fresh air.  Thus our respiration is carried on
by the great author of our  existence, to whost
praise we ought ever to be ready to say :
      " His spirit moves our heaving lungs,
      n Or we should breathe no more." 
nit
INTRODUCTION.
And however our lungs may act on the principle*
of the steam machine, and so operate  from natu-
ral causes, we shall not always  breathe.
   Men have contrived  to break nearly all God's
appointments ; but this  " It is appointed for all men
once to rfie," has never been abrogated or defeated
yet by any man.   And we should always remem-
ber,  when we are about to take medicine, if the
Lord will, we shall do this or that with  success ; if
the Lord will,  I shall get well by  this means or
some other.
   But to return to the  breath—If the  air be cool
and clear, it will  always  have elasticity,  as it is
called; it will  swell and  fly  back again  easily,
when we receive  it into our lungs.   But if the
air is warm or hot, we should soon  find a difli-
culty to draw our breath.   This was very sensibly
experienced in New-York, New-Jersey  and Penn-
sylvania, in which we witnessed it, being in those
parts about the 4th of July, 1811; and we conclude
that a farther degree of the  warmth  of the air,
might soon have prevented us from respiring at all.
   Such likely was the case in Calcutta, where a
close room being  filled  with about 160 prisoners,
it is said they all died except 18 in about 12 hours.
   If the  air is  any how nearly as warm as  the
lungs, we cannot see how we should breathe at all:
it  is necessary therefore for us  to  try  to breathe
good air, if we would wish to live.*
   * In South Carolina we was once in company with 
INTRODUCTION.              w
  The motion and circulation of the blood is man-
ifestly  connected with  our breathing, for every
breath extends and contracts our lungs ;  and  by
this motion we conceive the valves of the heart are
kept in operation ; and every spring of the arter-
ies and beating of the pulse are exactly in propor-
tion  to the operation  of the  lungs.   When the
breath is let  out, the lungs  are immediately in
their blood vessels, filled with blood ; and when the
breath is drawn in again, the blood in the lungs is
forced out into  the  heart.    That is,  they say
" From the lungs when the air is inhaled, the blood
is pressed  into the left auricle  of the heart, from
thence to the left ventricle, thence to the aorta, and
by it and its branches through the body to the ca-

old  Dr. Dill'moo, who was noted for great skill and ex-
perience, having travelled into many parts of the world.
In the course of our conversation, we  asked  him what
he conceived the plague to be, which has been so much
talked  of in the world.  He rea'dily told  me  " that  it
was his opinion the plague is occasioned by an invisible
insect.   This insect, floating in the air, is taken in \yitli
the breath into the lungs, and there it either poisons, or
propagates its kind, so  as  to produce that dreadful dis-
ease.  This, he was confirmed, was  likely to  be the
truth, from  the experiments frequently made at Gibral-
tar.  For there, said he, they of the garrison, when they
fear the plague, have a way to elevate a piece of fresh
meat, pretty high in the  air ; they put it up at night,
and if it comes down sound and sweet in the morning,
they conclude there is  no danger of the plague.  But
if the plague is in the air, the meat will be tainted and
spoiled, and sometimes almost rotten, 
E               INTRODUCTION.

pillary extremities of the arteries, through them in-
to the veins, and by the veins to the right auncto
of the heart, from thence into the right ventricle,
from  thence through the pulmonary arteries, at
the time  of respiration or  exhaling the  air from
the lungs, into the lungs."                     m
  Thus the lungs are  alternately filling,  first with
blood, then with air,  at every breath,  the  ono
pumping or working the other.  By this circulation
the blood runs  its rounds, and is carried  (at least
some of it) to the extremities of the body  in a few
minutes ; feeding our nerves, sinews and flesh as

  •« He was farther confirmed in his opinion of the in-
sect, because in and about tobacco  ware houses, the
plague has never been known."  We will remark. Now
it is well known that tobacco will  prevent moths from
eating our woollen clothes, if we pack but a little  of it
with them, that is  the moth cannot  breed nor  exist,
where there is a sufficient scent of the tobacco—this scent
may be death to the invisible insect even after they are
drawn in with the breath and fastened upon the lungs.
This may account for tobacco being burned (as we have
heard it is) in many old countries, on a chaffing dish in
a room, that the people of  the house may take in the
emoke plentifully  with their breath,  to preserve their
health and prevent pestilential disorders.
  Agreeable to this view, we may  conclude that all
tainted air may  bring disease and death to us.   And
the plague has never been (properly speaking) in Amer-
ica, as we know of.  Yet other effluvia taken in with
the breath may have occasioned other fearful diseases:
euch  as the yellow fever, and other biliious and conta-
gious complaints. 
INTRODUCTION.
XI
\t passes on, and supplies and forces out that little
juice through the pores of the skin, which we call
perspiration and sweat.
   From the blood vessels in the lungs is commu-
nicated a little stream of moisture, which grows in-
to phlegm, and in a relaxed state  produces that
matter  which is raised and coughed up from the
lungs.
   Indeed I consider that this motion and circula-
tion of air and blood is the true cause of heat be-
ing kept up in the  body ; and as the  lungs have
the most, and most violent motion, they ];;• ess the
greatest degree  of hent of any part of the body,
and even heat the blood.*   And it is by this mo-
tion, together with some irregularities, that a fever
takes place, producing a kind of electrical charge.
When this is attended  with  too much bile, or an
undue portion of the gall of the liver, then the fever
is called a  billious fever, nv«cl always  belongs to the
  * The heat of the lungs and blood ought, I think, nev-
er to  be suddenly checked or counteracted by cold :
especially when the weather is hot, or when violent ex-
ercise has raised unusual heat in the lungs, and through
the system.   Then take care how you go into cold wa-
ter, to swim, or  even to wash.  Remember that cold
will coagulate and clot blood—and that very soon if ita
motion and circulation should  be much or suddenly
abated.  Ah ! how many have lost their lives, or their
health, or become cripples for life, just by such folly !
  A large drink of cold water has often proved  fatal
when the lungs and the blood have been so heated, for
the reasons before assigned. 
xti             INTRODUCTION.
   diathesis of debility : and  if the weakness is very
   prevalent, the nerves and tendons tremble  and
   start, and the strength to speak or act be suspend-
   ed, this is called a typhous or nervous fever.
     But if there be a fullness of blood, a hard pulse,
   a fresh countenance, and an ability to speak and
   act with a degree of vigor or strength, then the fe-
   ver may be called an inflammatory fever,  and is
   exactly the opposite  to the first mentioned.   And
   your treatment  must be  accordingly.   This be-
   longs to the diathesis of plethora and irritation.
     Here may we reflect on the balance of air and
„  blood kept in motion to carry on life.   For if the
   air and breath be suspended, how soon will death
   ensue ;f or if the blood be taken away, how soon
   will all vital  motion cease.

     Indeed, in very hot weather, we think very cold water
   ought to be used with caution ; and in  small quantities,
   at least until the stomach is moderately cooled by it.
     We are persuaded that instead of taking cold drink,
   when we ary very hot, and if we find it is with difficul-
   ty we get our breath, we had better take warm drink.
    We have noticed how easy it is to breathe in the hottest
   seasons after we have drank a good dish of hot coffee.
     tA man who had been prisoner among the Indiansi
   related to us the following most horrid incident.
     S.iid he.  " I was present at the burial of a squaw
   who died leaving a  young child.  When  the  Indiana
   met to  bury her, an old mother squaw took the infant
   child and offered it to every squaw in the company to
   take care of, but they severally refused: she* then said,
   qow then the mother must take care of it, She then, ta- 
CHAPTER  II.
  The diathesis of diseases, agreeable to Brown's
Elements, we conceive to be the truth.  We  be-
came somewhat acquainted with this system about
22 years ago.
  Agreeable to that plan, there are but two kinds
of diseases of  the human body: consisting 1. in
Plethora and Irritation; and 2. in Debility, Weak-
ness and Languor.
   Generally speaking, it is of importance for us to
know to which of these an inflicted sufferer be-
longs.  The cases we have compared to a lighted
candle—if your candle burns strong and has a su-
perfluous wick, then you may safely snuff it; but
if it is dim, burns dull, and its wick is too short al-
ready,  you must beware of  snuffing it, lest you put
it out.   You had better pick open your wick, and
gently feed the flame until you bring it to burn well.
   Plethora and Irritation are not so critical.  You
 may then bleed liberally; especially if the pulse
 king hold of the child's nose with one hand, and apply-
 ing the other to its lips, held them both fast closed. The
 event was that the child in a minute or two, struggled in
 death, and expired.  She then laid it in the dead moth-
 er's arms, who were both buried together.  He further
 eaid, that he could not but observe how well the old sav-
 age understood her business." 
rtt
INTRODUCTION.
te hard and high;  No. 2 or No. 3 may then bo
given to great advantage. We have sometimes ta-
ken blood, and succeeded wonderfully, when mere
stagnation had nearly prevented the pulse from
beating  at all.
  But it is altogether critical in all  cases of real
debility, to which belong all bilious cases, cramps,
fits, hysterics, &e.   Then blood ought very cau-
tiously to  be let,  if at all.   And all diuretic and
weakening medicines, should  be very cautiously
given, and  sometimes carefully avoided.    Your
treatment should be strengthening and what is call-
ed tonic.  Such  as No. 1, No. 5, No. 9, &c.
  Consequently in consumptive cases, nothing  in
my view is more improper than calomel, British oil,
Tar water, &c.  And we think it no wonder that
consumptions have so long proved mortal, when it
is clear in our minds, that nothing but a recruit of
good blood will affect  the cure of such poor victims
languishing under  real debility and  weakness.—
Bee the note to No. 44.
  So  that  the elements  by Brown seem  to us
plain, reasonable and practicable. But we have to
say of his prescriptions, as David did of Saul's ar-
mor, when it was  put upon him.  " / cannot go
with this, for I have not proved it."  He then chose
his  sling, his staff,  shepherd's bag and stones, be-
cause he was used to them, and could recollect
what he had theretofore done with them.
  We acknowledge ourselves indebted to Brown 
INTRODUCTION.            xt
  for his doctrines of exitability, of predisposition of
  diseases, and observation on the  pulse,  the na-
  ture and use of opium and other stimulants, and
  his opinion concerning the consumption, and  its
  being a curable disease.
    But we conceive that after all, he has in a meas-
,. ttre missed the radical cause of the consumption,
  and that mere stimulants will never effect the cure.
  But since we have buried two or three of our own
  family with that fatal disease, the iron doctrine has
  been  strongly impressed on our minds.   See the
  note to No. 44.
     The few experiments that we have been  ena-
  bled to make, justify what we have inserted on that
  .subject.   We wonder that this doctiine has never
  been adverted to before (that we know of) especially
  when  we consider that the iron in the blood has
  been  long discovered, and that in  Georgia and
  Bouth Carolina the cachexy* is often cured with
  iron, when nothing else will cure it; that a recruit
  of good blood is frequently  obtained by giving iron
  in female weaknesses; and that the observation
  may so  fairly  be  made,  that black-smiths and
  those that work in iron are never consumptive  or
  dropsical persons.
    To Brown's opinion we assent in one thing more,

    •The cachexy is a kind of dropsy, frequent in routh-
   ern climates. 
xn            INTRODUCTION.
 for we are quite of his mind:  to wit, an old man
 ought never to marry a young woman.
   A word to the wise is enough.



                 CHAPTER  III.
  Obstructed Perspiration we suppose to be the real
 first cause of half the diseases of the human body.
 In  a state of oozing out of perspiration, or what is
 called moisture  on the skin of  a person,  all over
 him,  which it is allowed  (if our recollection is
 con'ect) vents and discharges half or more of all
 that wc eat and drink daily.
  It would surprise you to see this floating all over
 you, in  a  state of health,  like water over a piece
 of watered meadow.
  This salutary perspiration is commonly obstruct-
 ed,  and the skin becomes  dry by what we com-
 monly call catching cold.   Its first symptoms are
 a stopage  of  the nose,  sneezing, and  frequently
 a little dull headach.
  But if the cold is suffered to  continue, and the
 perspiration remains obstructed.   The lungs will
 be soon affected, or  the  headach will  perhaps
 become violent,  or a lax  or griping in the bowels
will most  likely  take place, and sometimes  a vi-
 olent  vomiting with it; or  a fever of some sort.—
 The weak and the strong are all the subjects of this
 kind of the beginning of diseases. 
INTRODUCTION.            xvw
   All this evacuation is by the perspiration being
obstructed  thrown back upon the blood and in-
testines.  Now all this  mischief may easily, or
commonly be prevented if when the symptoms are
first felt, or you have reason to think that you hav«
taken cold, you will pursue the following direc-
tions.
   Drink sage tea* copiously and go to bed— and
drink it, hot or cold, but not very strong, until you
bring yourself into a little  sweat, then go to sleep
and you may expect to wake up well.  But if you
have neglected a little too long, take a pill No. 26,
and go to sleep but dont neglect the tea.  If that
do not cure you try No. 29, and some physic, per-
haps such as No. 1,2,  or 5.  If the stomach or
bowels are affected : or pain or inflammation takes
place any where.
  *Or any other warming, sweating tea  will do—such
as pennyroyal, mint, sassafras or dogwood buds.
                       2 
MEDICAL PRESCRIPTIONS.
                    No. 1.
    The home Ipecacuanha, or Indian Physic,
Is an emetic,  but  commonly operates also as a
purge.   It is always safe, if moderately taken.—
After discharging the bile, it leaves the stomach
braced, so that in the lowest cases of debility, to-
nics (such as Columbo root or its preparations)
may be taken after it to advantage.  Contrary to
other physics, we have found that  weakly persons,
who were of mere broken constitution, have be-
come healthy  and strong, only by taking  this to
vomit them on every occasion.
  This is my  great  pioneer to clear the way for
other medicine, in all cases of oppression  in the
breast, nausea, violent vomitings & fever in gene-
ral.
  To use it rightly—take a pngil,  or what you can
grasp moderately with the thumb &  fore-finger,
of the  green root, four inches long, or the like
quantity of dry root,  make it into a  decoration
(say half a gill) and to a grown person give one
third of it at a time every ten minutes, and if it
does not work there is no harm done ;  but we
choose  to continue it until it does work  up  o?
down.   Cool water may be drank during its ope-
ratjatt* only quench a ooal in it, if you begin that 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.           t9

way ; gruel may also be given, so as to keep some-
thing in the bowels.  Should its operation  be too
fierce, a little laudanum may be necessary ; for if
the dose of the ipecacuanha be too large, it is a li-
on, otherwise a lamb.
   The Ipecacuanha is a very bitter root.   In a
good bunch the green root will frequently be as big
as  a goose quill, is quirly and lumpy.  The roots
adhere in all  sizes to a common root.   The top
and leaf resemble a bunch of close set briars, but
smooth.  The sprout for the new  growth very
much resemble  the briar sprout.  Many stalks
grow to a good bunch two ket high, full of branch-
es.  On the  top of which are very many livid
whitish  blossoms.   They issue in small knobs or
squarish pods,  about  the size  of a  buck wheat
grain.   It grows plentifully in many of our moun-
tains in America, and we believe may be cultivated
in our gardens, any where in the United States.
   We have raised, by planting the sprouts in our
garden, to  great  advantage.   We wish it to be
planted in  every man's garden ;  'tis a great orna-
ment—it will grow either from the seed  or the
sprouts.   One hill from a single  sprout, when
three years old, we have found to make  half a
pound of dried root.   What a pity this should be
neglected—as it has been sufficiently proved to b#
fully equal if not superior to the imported  Ipec-
acuanha of south America.  It makes a most ex-
cellent and wholesome bitter when  put in spirits. 
 W          PRESCRIPTIONS.

                   No.  2.
            The Scurvy  Grass root,
 Is a special good purge.   The stalk and leaf is
 rather of the flag kind, from six to ten inches long,
 has a small blue blossom on the top, issuing in a
 four-sqare pod, full of small seeds like  tobaco
 seeds.   The roots are fine as Virginia snake root,
 of a pale yellow  color, and taste very hot  and
 peppery, turning the lips and tongue yellow.   It
 is found very plentifully in Virginia, and the south-
 ern states.  And it is sometimes to be found in
 meadows, in Jersy, Pennsylvania and  the  Ohio
 states.   The top is so hardy as to live through the
 winter.
  We have planted this in our  garden for a num-
 ber of years past, in the  manner, of shives, and
from a single stool find it  increase in two years to
 a bunch enough for several portions of  physic.—
 This can easily be procured from its spontaneous
growth in the  southern states.   The green roots
are to be made use of,  as the dry will not purge.
 A pugil of the roots made into  a decoration, and
given at two draughts at 15 minutes distance, may
be given as a common purge for a grown person.
  Its operation is tolerably quick, always safe, and
if it fails working, it does  no hurt.
  This little native of the woods was shown to us
 by old Dr. Wilkey, of South Carolina, who highly
 commended it; saying that he had known mora
sudden and effectual reliefs from it, than from any 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          2l

other medicine.* This we have abundantly used for
83 years,  without regretting that we had made use
of it in a single instance.   From our own observa-
tions of it as a purge, the idea is impressed upon
us,   that the waters drained off by it take with them
that viscid quality which  is the cause of inflam-
mation and  pain.   Poisons, errors  of corrosive
6ublimate, infl?immatory cases, &c. such as pleu-
risy, are speedily relieved by it; and  cases of tba
contrary  diathesis, such  as costiveness,  cholics,
cramps, pains in the-stomach, bowels or limbs, &c.
can receive no better remedy.
  It is to  be noticed,  that if the skin is chafed with
vinegar, and a  small poultice of these roots ap-
plied, they will draw a good blister.   When this is
given  as a purge, bracing medicine should follow
h, such as No. 4,  No. 5, or  No.  9.
  We have sometimes filled a phial with the roofs,
a/id then  put on spirits, and given a teaspoonful at
  *We remember that Dr- Wilkey related to us the fol-
lowing fact: said  he—" I was one morning very early
(jailed to visit a woman who had taken a dose of corro-
sive sublimate (in mistake, thinking it was tartar emetic)
"when I  came  to her, her tongue was so swelled that
elie could  not speak a word.  1 thought it  was over
with her,  but  I would try my little root  (meaning the
ecurvy grass root) I prepared a decoction as soon as
possible, and  though it was supposed she could not
ewallow, yet we tried one spoonful after another, and
found  it made way for itself.----And what  was sur-
prising, she was so soon relieved,  that on that very
morning the woman fried pan-cakes for my breakfast.'' 
 52          PRESCRIPTIONS.

 a  time, where the system  requires warming tad
 stimulating.
                    No 3.
           Culver's or BrintorCs root,
 U a purge, and famous for the cure of the pleurisy.
 Its top is a weed growing two or three feet  high,
having leaves coming out of the stalk at joints, some
three, some four and so on to seven at a joint, ac-
cording to the age of the root; a white tasselcd
blossom grows on  the top of each  branch, fre-
quently as long as one's finger.
   Out of a common stool grow  a number of pale
yellow roots, about as big as knitting-needles, and
taste very bitter.   A large handful of the roots
made into a decoction,is enough for a common dose.
   This root is good for use when dry ; it possesses
much of  the narcotic, and  requires the patient
 sometimes to be  roused to keep him from falling
asleep during its operation.   It may be powdered
and used like jalap, generally as a purge.
   The noted Hezekiah Smith, for the cure of the
pleurisy, practised long with this root, and used  to
rurc the pleurisy with amazing speed.   We have
found that the root No. 2 is fully as good, or better.
 Bleeding should precede the purge, when the pulse
 beats hard, and the inflammation is high.
                    No. 4.
          The Colambo,  or Miami root,
 U founJ in plenty in  the Ohio  and Kentucky 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.           23

states.   This valuable production is several years
old before it sends up its stalk.  The leaves  are
very smooth and grow in bunches nearly as big
as mullein leaves, but not so wide ; the stalk is
round as a musket barrel, and often grows six or
seven feet high, having always four leaves at right
angles growing at a joint; its seed grows in pods
shaped  like a  horse been, and are much like
parsnip  seeds.
   The Columbo leaves occasion sweat copiously,
when laid to the forehead, and will commonly re-
lieve the headache ; and this relief will be found
special in many other cases—to sweat away boils,
inflammations, and even old chronic pains.
   The Columbo root ought to be used as a  bra-
cing or tonic medicine; but it is both an emetic and
a cathartic,  if taken in large quantities.   People
who will keep this root by them, and only chew
as much as their stomachs will easily take (taking
it in substance, which is  preferable to any other
way) will find it a remedy for  almost any com-
plaint, especially gripings, purgings,  colics,  and
generally all pains of the bowels.
   One  of the peculiar traits of the Columbo  root
is, that  it braces the stomach, if only two or three
chews of it  are taken,  and the spittle  or saliva
6wallowed, that a plentiful drinking of cold water
will not hurt you—yet  it will perhaps be the best
means in order to a sudden  and positive cure.—
This may be relied on in a cholic, or almost any 
 84          PRESCRIPTIONS.

 sudden attack of disease—and if you have an in-
 satiable thirst, so that one drink  of water  only
 makes way for another,  then take this Columbo
 root until the thirst abates, and drink what  cold
 water you please.  But after the thirst  is abated,
 then if you drink cold wafer as much as you can
 well force  down, you will very likely cure the
 fever at once.
   To finish the cure of fevers, it should be taken
 in some form, until health is confirmed.   Such is
 the efficacy of this root, that when they who take
 it recover, they are indeed well at once, needing
 no other medicine.
   Bitters made of this root, are proper to confirm
 health; and we believe that this root, or its prepara-
 tions, is the best relief for the nausea and costive-
 ness of a pregnant woman.
   The use of this root will, we expect, supercede
 that of the Jesuit barks, and so fill their place that
 we shall need none of them.
  This Miami-Columbo root is of  a pale yellow,
 its taste is a mild bitter, but of a  lower jist  than
 the imported,  allowed to be so by reason of the
odds of climate, yet fully as efficacious as the other.
  This root might be sent to market in great quan-
tities from the Miami country.
  Dr.  Richard  Allison,   of  Cincinnati,  claims
the honor of discovering  this to be the Columbo
 root in  our  county, and to him we are indebted
for our  first ideas of its virtues. 
              FUESCitiriMONS.          £5

    After Dr.  Allison had been informed that the
  Doctors in Philadelphia denied it to be the Colum-
  bo root, we heard him say " / know the Columbo
  root as well as any of them—and  I believe it to b$
  the Columbo root."
                     No. 5.
       The Butternut or White Walnut Pills,
 Are a valuable purge, very easy  and safe, to all
 persons under disease.
    These pills may be prepared by boiling a kettle
 of the bark of the butternut  tree in water, until
 you gain the substance of the bark, then strain the
 liquor and huil it down ; <when  it  becomes thick
 as syrrup, take care not to burn it, but simmer it to
 a substance like hard  wax ;  then put it by in a
 cup or gaily pot, and make it into pills as they are
 wanted, for if the pills are made up, they wiil run
 together and dissolve in a  little time.
   This purge is preferable  to any that we know, in
 a weak  and debilitated state of the bowels.  It
 may be taken in as small quantities as you please,
 for if they do not purge immediately, they act the
 better  as a stimulus and tonic to the system, and
 will produce a-good habit of body by reneatin"-
 them every night,  and  this may be done  for u
 month together.
   This differs  from all other purges that we know
of in this—that your doses may be less and less,
but Qther physic  must have more and  more, or it 
I«           PRESCRIPTIONS.

will not purge.   Other purges generally leave the
body in a worse habit, but this in a better.  Its
general ease and safety,  and its answering in al-
most every disease, so that we venture to say the
trial of  it will neve^r be wrong, make it a far pre-
ferable medicine to salts or any other purge, where
repeated applications are wanted.
  We advise to begin with one or two pills at night,
going to bed, which may be swallowed in a little
stued fruit or rye mush, and the doses may be in-
creased a little every  night till  they purge ; then
take less and less till  the patient is  quite well.—
Try this for pain in the  stomach, worms,  colds,
consumptive coughs,  costiveness, laxes, hemorr-
hage, or what you  will, all is safe.
  Those who are exposed by attending the sick,
or where fevers or fluxes are suspected  to  be in-
fectious, ought to take the butternut pills as  a pre-
ventative.  Their nature, and the proofs  that we
have known, cause us to  suppose that they will
seldom fail to prevent such infections, if taken for
that  purpose as here recommended.  Drenchei
made of a decoction of this bark may be used for
horses  that have the yellow water,  or for cattle
that have the murrain.  We  have  heard of both
being speedily and  effectually cured by it.
                   No.  6."
           The China Rhubarb root,
Will vomit and purge both.  The sprouts from
which this root was first raised in  America, are 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.           VT

said to have been brought from China by Doctor
Johnson, of Pennsylvania.  It  is raised only by
planting the sprouts.   The leaves  are  nearly as
large as burdock leaves, and are smooth  as beet
leaves; it sends up a stalk and blooms plentifully,
but always blasts.
  The roots  are long, and lie in different direc-
tions, much in the form of horse-radish roots, of a
redish  color  without  and  within—the root  will
come to a good maturity in two years.
  This we suppose to be rhubarb of a superior qual-
ity.  We have chiefly used it by  compounding it
with other medicine.   It is a great tonic, but re-
to be given in small quantities at  a time.
                   No. 7.
              The Nine-bark root,
Is found  growing plentifully in the state of Ohio,
and on the waters of the Ohio river.   Its top is a
straight stem, partly between the wood and  weed
kind, growing about  three  or four feet high, hav-
ing a pith like elder (but there are no joints in the
stalk like elder, to prevent running out the pith, of
which weavers' quills  are  made) the roots grow
nearly on the top of the ground, and an armful of
them can be commonly collected as soon as an
armful of the  tops.   Its situation is commonly
near creek banks.
  This root is said to  be a great cathartie,  but we
have never poved it.
»*► 
 28          PRESCRIPTIONS.

   The  Indiana use a decoction of these roots for
 fomenting and poulticing,  in  all  cases which re-
 quire such  applications.
   It removes  the  anguish, and cures a burn  be-
 yond credibility; eases verging on mortification,
 fellons, swellings, rising of a woman's breast, &c.
 yield to its application beyond any thing else.
   To apply it, boil the roots and  make a strong
 decoction, then take of the liquor  and thicken up
 a poultice with bran or Indian meal, this may be
 put into a little bag made  of a thin cloth, and ap-
 ply it as warm and as moist as wi.l be agreeable ;
 this may be repeated as often as you will, until the
 pain or inflammation is quite  gone, or the wound
 or sore cured.  Linen or  cotton cloths dipt in the
 liquor, hot,  and applied as warm as can be borne,
 and then kept close  while the case remains, and
 so repeated, will be a good way to apply it.
                    No. 8.
             The Square-stalk root,
 And its leaves, are both medicinal.  The sta/k is
square, nearly of the size and shape of the catnip
 etajk.  It is a native of the soil, grows five or six
fefit high, branching out with two stems at a joint;
its pods and seeds  nearly resemble the  tobacco;
its leaves are beautiful and smooth on both  sides.
 The Porter's ointment is principally made of these
leaves.  The root when  pulled up, appears ten-
 der and  white like a white radish, branching in
m- 
             PRESCKirTlONS.          29

different directions, somewhat larger than a goose
quill.  This  root  has frequently  been  used to
make poultices for sores, but its chief use by tbo
Indians is for women's complaints.  Use it in tea
or decoctions, which may lreely be drank, being
quite innocent, but very efficacious.
   It is a remedy for pah s attending the peculiar
state, or purgations of females; it may be given
both before and after  child-birth; it  will restore
obstructed lochia,  and briefly speaking, it is the
best women's root t'mt we know.
                    No. 9.
                  Jlgrimoney,
Is a valuable medicine, both the  herb  and  the
root.   It is a tonic, or strengthener of the system,
and affects most sensibly the  regions of the kid-
neys and bladder.  A  tea or powder of this sim-
ple is a  remedy for the  diabetes,  or involuntary
emission of urine.  We conclude it is very advisable
to give it either as a tea for breakfast and supper*
or as a diet drink, whenever we wish to promote
nervous  strength.   The roots may be boiled in
milk and water, and given in dysentery and other
fluxes.
   Culpepper's  English physician  describes and
highly commends this herb.   It is  a native of the
woods,  but is friendly to cultivation.  There are
two kinds, the high land, and water agriinoney, it
is the former we recommend.
>
 
3D           PRESCRIPTIONS.
  It may be known by its little lonely stalks be-
ing strung with small yellow blossoms, which i*-
sue in small burs; it has a rough leaf, a little like
a strawberry leaf, but strung out on each side of
a stem in many divisions from the stalk to the tip
of its point.  It is of a rough-like taste, and scarce-
ly bitter; the roots taste much like the tops, grow
from the stool  in a circular  direction, are black,
and large  as  knitting needles.   The herb  and
roots may be used green or dry.
                   No.  10.
            The Black  Snake Root,
Is a purger of the urine and kidneys, and a d'ts-
solver of scorbuties.
  A tea of it may be freely drank in a fever, a
handful to make a quart of tea, and is a special
medicine where there is soreness or aching across
the loins.   The yellow fever has  been  suddenly
cured by this tea, the bile having first  been moved
by  an emetic.  It cures the bite of a snake by
chewing and  swallowing the root,  and by apply-
ing it to the bite as a poultice, chewed or bruised.
  The appearance of this root and its top is a good
deal similar to the agrimoney, having a leaf more
Dke the strawberry leaf, but smooth,  and at full
growth much  larger,  more round, and regularly
cleaved like a  five-finger leaf, and often as broad
as a colt's hoof; when it ascends into a stalk with
a spreading top, it produces at the extremities a 
rn-ussi; a. ir 1 IONS.           81
bar a little larger than the agrimoney.   This root
is blackish, tastes earthy and aromatic, is situated
regularly  round  its  stool in every  direction,  in
straight roots, a little larger than knitting needles.
  The  Indians cure the ague  by sweating with
this  root.  It is  friendly to  cultivation.   It may
be used green or dry.
                   No. 11.
              The Corn Snake root,
Grows plentifully in  the  prairies  in the state of
Ohio.   We call it corn snake root, because its leaf
resembles young corn, has prickly points all along
on its edges,  and  a  superior one at the  extreme
point of its leaf; it sends up a round stock some-
times two feet high, with  those  prickly pointed
leaves scattering along upon it; and on the top
grows a round ball about as large  as a  musket
bullet, covered thick with white bloom.  The root
consists of a knob about an inch long, the bottom
being the  largest, and appears always as if it was
decayed or rotted off, there are small roots adhe-
ring round this stool or knob.
  The taste of this root resembles the black sn*\ke
root, but its taste very pungent, and is perhaps fifty
times as strong as that.
  The great use (as far as known)  of this root, is
to cure the bite of the rattle snake, or any other
poisonous bite or sting.  The root need only to
be chewed and laid on the bite, and a little of ft 
 92          PRESCRIPTIONS.

 swallowed.   If this can be done when the bite is
 first sustained,  it prevents the place bitten from
 swelling.   It is generally, first or last, a  speedy
 cure.
   As this root surpasses every thing we know of
 for the snake poison, and must pass through the
 secretions amazingly quick, moving the urine and
 perspiration, and is similar in taste and operation
 to the black snake root, but vastly more powerful,
 it becomes an object, cautiously  to try it in ths
 cases mentioned, and proved, of the black snake
 root, that is, in scrophulous  and venereal com-
 plaints, the bilious, typhus or camp fevers, and in
 infectious diseases generally.
   But it should always be remembered, that when
 these attenuating, dissolving,  diuretic roots  are
 used, they should be continued but  for a short
 time, and then followed with bracing medicine, as
 agrimoney tea,  Columbo root, or chalybeate oxy-
 mel, No. 44.
                   No.  12.
             The Mountain Mint,
Is a large wild  herb, of a very hot  taste, growe
frequently from two to three feet high, bearing a
blossom on the  top of its stem like a small rose.
  A tea made of  this herb has been  found very
effectual to relieve the gravel, and that when other
medicines had proved ineffectual (but see for re-
moving that complaint No. 24.)  The  mountain 
 mint may easily be raised in our gardens; and is,
 generally speaking, a fine, safe, diuretic and per-
 spirative medicine, when made into a tea.
                   No.  13.
               The Horse Balm,
 Or as it is called by some, Clown Wounds Wort,
 Rich Weed, and Hard Root.   The leaves are fa-
 mous for raising sweat wherever a bunch of them
 is applied to the skin, and by that means give ease
 of pain  in any part where they are applied.  Ap-
 ply a bunch of them to a stiff neck, bind  them
 close, it will  raise a sweat and effect a cure.—
 These leaves thus applied to boils,  softens them
 and eases their anguish, and frequently  will carry
 them away when half grown.   The same applica-
 tion will merit a trial in any inflammations on the
 skin, or more deeply seated in any part of your
 body, or the aching of your back,  or any joint or
limb.
  The New-England people, we have been told,
make an ointment of these leaves to put upon the
necks of their oxen.
  The root of these medicinal leaves is much like
an  artichoke, but of a wood-like substance; its
stem is  round and small, grows about  two feet
high, the leaves are notched like a hickory leaf,
but wider and very smooth, its blossoms are yel-
low, it has a delicious smell.   It is a native of the
woods, but will soon be eat out where stock run.
It will grow well in the garden.
                      3 
M          PRESCRIPTIONS.
                    No.  14.
           The bark of the White Pine,
 \i a great medicine for sores.   It should be bon'-
 ed, and the soft part stript out and beat to a poul-
 tice in  a mortar, and then sufficiently moistened
 with the liquor and  applied to burns, or sores of
 any  kind.  Repeat the poultices and wash with
 the liquor until the sore is well.  This will not ter-
 rify  or smart in  its  application ; a new skin will
 come on quickly, without a scar.
   The same application is a cure for the piles.—■
 A little tea of the bark should be drank, while the
 external applications are continued.  As this bark
 ©annot always be had, it would be desirable that an
 essential oil should be made of the white pine,  or
 an essence of the bark and limbs, which, if mixed
 with water in a bottle, and applied with a feather,
 it is conceived would answer in place of the above
 application of the bark.
                    No. 15.
         The Mela, or Trumpet-weed root,
• Is a fine stimulus, and  promotes excitability in
 cases of numbness, and want of sensibility in tho
 feelings, which follow fevers, or may otherwise ex-
 ist.   Two drachms of the dried root, or a pugil of
 the  green, may be put into a pint of spirits: a tea-
 8DOonful or  two at  a time may be given three
 times a day when the stomach is most empty, in a
 little tea, and a little nourishment may follow in a 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.           35

Tew  minutes.  It should be continued,  increased
or omitted, according to its effects on the patient.
   This root the Africans give to make the wench-
es amorous and fruitful.  It is supposed to excito
venereal desires.
   The Abela, or Trumpet-weed root grows plen-
tifully in the southern states, and some of it we have
found in the Miami country.   The leaf is as largt;
as a  horse's hoof; the stalk  is round, and grows
five or six feet high, having a scatter of leaves, onu
at a place, on the stalk, which is guttered like fine
dimity, of a rough  and russet appearance ; th:
show of its blossom is much like the cotton weed ;
the roots are remarkably small for the &\z'-i of the
top,  consisting of a stool as long as one's finger, to
which adhere a number of small brown roots, not
much larger than knitting needles : the taste of
these roots is  mild and spicy, but becomes pun-
gent in a miuute or two.
                   No.  16.
       The Blue-berry, or  Sore throat root,
Is a very pungent aromatic.  The stalk and leave*
much resemble the squaw root, but are more slen-
der and nice ;  it grows about knee high, and is di-
vided regularly into three branches, and then sub-
divided in the same manner.   It bears a few ber-
ries on a middle stem, which  when ripe are blue,
and  rather larger than a blue  whortlebury.  The
root* adhere to a stool, and  f. rm a great  bushy 
36          PRESCRIPTIONS.
bunch;  the fibres arc not much larger than Vir-
ginia snake root, and  are very strong and severe
in taste, but leave a sweet and agreeable relish at
last.   See No. 48.
  A tea made  of  the blue berry root, when  it
comes to be  known and proved, will probably be
esteemed as the best antispasmodic in the compass
of medicine.  That is, it will prevent and do away
spasms  of every description in a safe and superior
manner. By spasms we mean involuntary contrac-
tions—such as cramp, hiccup, cholic,  cholera
morbus, epilepsy, hysterics, and we suppose every
other species of fits, even the ague.
  Should the blue berry  root be wanted abroad
and  in the shops,  the state  of Ohio can furnish
great quantities of it for market.
   The  blue berry root is said to be the great me-
dicine  that  the squaws use at the birth of their
children.   Experience has however  proved,  a-
mong white women, that its assistance is very spe-
cial.   It  is  to  be made  use of in the following
manner—Take a good handful of green or dry
roots, make it into a tea, (say half a pint)  give the
half of it, and fill up with hot water; repeat the
drinking every ten minutes, or oftener, until it has
 its effect.
   When a woman finds that she is taken in labor,
 let her drink as above, having her help at hand—
 if it is not her time, she will probably get easy and
 be well; but if it is her time, expect the delivery 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          3?

will be facilitated with much  safety.  It is to be
noticed, that if the anguish attending the delivery
is not moderated, the doses have not been strong
enough : for they act on the same stimulant prin-
ciples that opium does—and a suitable degree of
indirect debility will moderate the  great distress
that must otherwise be experienced.  The delive-
ry is facilitated by it, so as seldom to be slow and
lingering.  But  the  great  benefit is the state of
safety and  of speedy and  sure recovery that the
mother experiences afterwards.
   The squaws, we have heard, drink a little of a
tea of this root for two or three weeks before their
expected time.  We have given this tea in a case
of inflammation of the uterus, and found it a speedy
cure.
   The tea of this root is neither a purge nor a vo-
mit, but acts as a stimulus  to the nervous system,
till by indirect debility it  will give ease in any dis-
tress"   We believe that it is always safe.
                   NO. 17.

                 The Squaw root,
Is also called Rattle weed and Black Snake root.
Its stalk is parted regularly into three  branches,
which support nice leaves at about two feet high,
but the stalk that goes to seed is often four or five
feet high, strung towards the top with white blos-
soms, which terminate in a jumble of pods filled
with fine seed ,* adhering to  the stool is  a  great 
38          PRESCRIPTIONS.
bunch of small black roots :  these roots nre pur-
gative, make a good bitter when put in spirits, fa-
mous for  curing  the chronic rheumatism,  and
strengthens the system when moderately used.—
See No. 48 and No.  65.
  We have heaid that this root is famous  for the
oure of a snake-bite.   The root is to be applied to
the bite in a poultice, and a little taken inwardly.
                   NO. 18.
              The Back-ache root,
Is, we believe, the same that is called Devil's bit by
the New-England people.   It grows plentifully in
the piiaries of the Ohio and western country.—
The stalk is a round  weed about three feet high,
lightly 6trung with long leaves, and towards the top
arises a kind of tassel of purple bloom.  The root
U a knob much like the corn snake root;  its taste
is mild and spicy,  but with  all resembles the taste
of a pine bud.
  This root, if made into a tea,  is said to promote
a gentle sweat,  and  cure the  backache.   The
oroup, or bold hives, used  to be speedily cured in
New-England, we have been told,  by  giving this
tea, and taking a  handful of these roots sliced, hot
out of the decoction,  and binding them  to  the
child's breast.
                   No. 19.
                The Devil's nip,
As it is shamefully called, grows about knee high, 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          39

parting its stalk into three branches, on which arc
situate handsome oval pointed leaves ;  on a slen-
der middle stem grows one handsome flower, re-
sembling a lilly,  some of which arc  white, and
some of a pale pink color.  The root  is a  knob ;
the whole resembles the well known Indian tur-
nips but the root is more conical;  its taste is too
severe to be endured, but not biting like the  Indi-
an turnip.   It is said, that any person  carrying  a
root or two, need  never fear that  any snake will
bite him.   A little of it put in the mouth of a snake,
is instant death  to him.   A German doctor  used
to give it to persons deranged and announced their
cure by it.   Its stimulant  qualities are  certainly
 rare.
                    No.  20.
                 The DeviVs bit,
 Like the foregoing, has an ill name, but is a good
 root.  This is,  in some  places,  knowi by the
 name of Star root.   It has a small round  stalk,
' about nine inches or a  foot high, scattered round
 with little leaves, resembling corn leaves, and has a
 white tassellcd bloom on the top ;  the root is con-
 ical, being a knob about an inch long, largest at the
 bottom, and appeals as if it had rotted off.
   This root is a delicate nice bitter, and of a tonic
 and bracing nature.  It is said to  be  excellent for
 a sore throat, and is one of the ingredients in a for-
 mer celebrated  preparation for the choaking quin-
 sy.   It has been called Maiden's  Relief,  because 
40          PRESCRIPTIONS.

when used Hi tea, it relieves  from pains and dis-
tress which are peculiar to the fair sex.   It will
help with dog wood and wild cherry bark to make
a very pleasant and wholesome bitter when put in
spirits.
                  No.  21.
              Tlie smallJlsmarl,
If dried, makes a  tolerable and very wholesome
tea.   It has been  used  by persons troubled  with
the gravel, or otherwise passing their urine in dis-
tress, to their great relief.
  It is amazing to see how plenty this invaluable
remedy grows  in our country every where, and
how few know and respect it.  A tea made of this
herb would probably cure  a cough or cold  in a
special manner, and will always be quite innocent.
The herb is so common and so well known,  that
we need not describe it.   We will only add, we
have drank it ourselves, and know what we  have
here written to be  true.
  We conjecture that the asmart tea would destroy
and expel worms ;  but the thought is new with me.
We recollect that  we once saw some boys catch-
ing fish in a little pond where they had  previously
scattered asmart, and in a little time they had the
fish floating dead on top of the water.
                   No. 22.
                 John's Wort.
Is a  valuable herb, and should be cultivated in our 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          41

gardens.   It is so generally known, that we hardly
need to describe it.  But we will just say—the tops
of its branches grow full of little yellow  flowers,
and contain its seed in small knobbed pods,  not
much larger than buckwheat grains.  It is a native
of the soil, and grows in all parts of our country.
But it should always be noticed, that what we here
commend, is not that  noxious weed which grov s
in old fields, and causes sores and scabs on the
horses noses that are white.)
  A tea made of this herb, relieves  the lungs and
breast, when respiration is obstructed, especially if
joined with sage.   Ointments and  Oils prepared
with it, are delicate and valuable, and may be  ap-
plied  to a fretted  skin, a gabled groin, a  swelled
face,  &c.   See No. 47 and 48.

                   No.  23.

                 Eye- Water.
First prepared by Dr.  Elijah Reeder.
  To make 3 gills—take a spoonful (heaped up)
of white vitriol, and the same quantity of common
salt, calcine them together on copper, or a piece
of earthen, on coals, stirring it with a stick, until it
becomes a grey powder;  then put  it into a  bowl,
and add to it three gills of  rainwater.  Strain it
through paper, or a fine rag two or three double—
then add two table spoonfuls of white sugar and a
lump  of blue-stone, as big as a large grain of In-
dian corn, and bottle it for use.   Three times  the 
48          PRESCRIPTIONS.

quantities will make a bottle, or quart.   Remc ni-
ter, no iron or pewter is to be  employed  in the
process.  This eye-water will keep good for years,
but beware of frost, lest you  lose your bottle.—
This eye-water cures the  western country sore
eyes, which are scarcely, if ever  relieved by the
old eye-water.  This eye-water we have kept and
used these fifteen years, with the greatest success,
and without a single complaint of its doing hurt.
   Throw a drop or two of  this  eye-water into
your eye out of a silver teaspoon, and repeat it of-
ten, if your eyes are bad ; or wet them  with your
finger, and  you will find, commonly,  that the in-
flammation will soon abate, and the eye will bear
it  better and better; and then  you may prolong
your times to two or three times a-day, but con-
tinue to use some till your eyes are quite well.—
This eye-water will scarcely affect a well  eye at
all.  It cures old sore eyes of drinking people—
but a gentle purge, and sometimes a blister, in
liighly inflamed cases, have been necessary.

                   No. 24.
           Dr. PerkhCs last remedy,
Is prepared by taking a small quantity of good vin-
egar (say two table spoonfuls) and dissolve com-
mon salt in it as long as  it will melt; then take a
table spoonful of this mixture,  put it into a teacup,
and add four  table spoonsful of boiling  water and
as soon as it is cool enough, it is  to be drank.  Or 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.           43

it may be taken gradually ; and respect should al-
ways be had  to the age and strength  of the pa-
tient.   This is recommended  in  obstinate fits of
the cholic, dysentery, and  in  all cases  where
pains  are occasioned by obstructed  perspiration.
We have given it in obstinate vomiting, dividing it
into three doses, and giving it at  ten minutes dis-
tance, and when thrown up, repeating  it until it
did stay.   The whole surface of the body being
cold,  became warm, and the  patient lived, when
probability said he must die.
                   No.  25.
          The Columbo Root Oxymel.
   To prepare—
   When our  Miami  root (No.  4)  can be  had
green, slice up enough to fill a tin cup ; put it in,
and cover it with good vinegar, and stew, and fill
up, until the  root will yield its  strength to  the
liquor.  Then strain and wring it out,  and return
it to stew : then add a teacup of sugar and a gill of
Btririts : then simmer it down to molasses, and bot-
tle it for use.
   The process with the dry, or the imported root,
will be easy ;  and larger quantities may be made
by proportion.
   This oxymel may be taken hourly for three or
four hours, a teaspoon full at a time for  a grown
person, in extreme cases, or until ease takes place:
after  that three doses in twenty-four hours is com-
inonly enpugh. 
41           PRESCRIPTIONS.

  In the rise of a fever, it may be given sparingly
or in small doses, but when a remission or inter-
mission takes place, it should be taken more libe-
rally,  cool water may be drank plentifully, in all
cases, a few minutes after taking the oxymels.—
The thirst will undoubtedly  abate, by the oxymel
being thus taken ; but then, a plentiful drinking of
cold water will greatly facilitate the eure of a fe-
ver.   Respect should be had to the strength of the
patient; for excess or indiscression may occasion
indirect debility ; but a long continuance (at times
omitting it) will never do hurt, but is always calcu-
lated to promote health and strength.
  Give it in cases of nausea, diarrhoea, dysentary
and costiveness.  The last will be relieved  in two
or three days without any other medicine.
  It is calculated to brace the system,  especially
the stomach and bowels, acting principally upon
the nerves:  and where this is used barks  and
wine may be omitted.
  Nothing can be better to relieve the sick qualm
and costiveness of a pregnant woman.

                   No. 26.
                Anodyne Pills.
For the cholic, hysterics,  &c.—Take half an
ounce of  opium and one ounce of  asafoetida, rub
them  in a mortar, and  moisten there with a  few
drops of spirits, till they form a mass of pills. This
may be put by in a  roll, and made up as they are 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          45

wanted.  A pill of common size should be given
as early as possible, when a cholic is approaching,
and if in one hour the symptoms do not subside,
repeat the  pill  hourly till  ease and  drowsiness
takes place;  for the exact dose  can never be
known but by this sparing hand procedure ;  but
one pill will be a cure nine times out of ten.
  The hysterics, and all spasms and cramps, es-
pecially of the stomach, may be relieved the same
way.
  Children that suck, have often taken  this to
quiet them  and  cure their  belly-ache  ;  a pill as
big as the head of a pin is commonly enough for
a child six  months old.   This composition is such
as to flux the opium, that its killing power seems
to be laid aside ;  and a person  may safely take
four times  as much opium in  this state,  as they
might otherwise dare to take.
   This pill we have always  found to  be laxative,
and slowly operates in  that way in the course of
21 hours.   We have carried these  pills  with  us
constantly for more than twenty years, and tried
them instead of laudanum, on almost every occca-
sion.
   A child in our neighborhood was obliged con-
 stantly to take these pills, twice  a  day for six
 months, and increase their size; he throve well
 upon them, and finally they overcame his  spasms,
 belly-ache (and otherwise continual  crying) and
 after awhile  he could do as well without them  as 
46          PRESCRIPTIONS.

any body, and is  now a stout hardy boy.   Thli
ckild doubtless partook of the affection of his moth-
er,  who  was dreadfully  affrighted before he was
born.
                   No. 27.
  Dr. Reedcr's chalybeate, for female xceaknesstt.
  To prepare—take three quarts of strong vine-
gar, two ounces anvil scales, pounded fine and the
dust blown out, one  pugil of Virginia or Seneca
snake root, one pugil of mountain ditny or garden
ground ivy, simmer them together in an iron  pot
to a pint ; then strain the liquor and return it into
the  pot ;  put into it ten grains of myrrh and ten
grains of aloes, a pound of sugar and a gill of spir-
its ;  cover it close, and simmer it down on coald
to thick molasses, and put it by for use.
  A teaspoonful  is a dose, night,  morning and
night: then miss the like times, and take it again ;
and so continue the course till nature is braced and
strengthened.   This is a cure for obstructed men-
ses, or wasting fluor.  See No. 44 how to give it.
  With this medicine many have  been  relieved :
the  barren have become fruitful;  and those des-
pairing of life, have been restored to health by ta-
king this.
  The prescriptions No. 25 and No. 44 were de*
vised after the pattern of this,  for which we  arc
ever indebted to the friendship of Dr. Elijah Reed-
er, of Franklin, on the big Miami 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          47

                  No.  28.

          Warner's blood-purging Pills.

  To prepare—take one pound of ipecac. No. J,
of dry roots,  or two pounds of green roots, four
pounds of green horse radish roots, and two inch-
es of blue flag root; put them into a pot  and boil
them in stale  cider until you gain the strength of
the  roots ; then strain and wring out the liquor ;
boil it down to a quart; then add half an ounce of
aloes and  half an ounce of myrrh, and simmer it
down to a mass for pills: then put it by for use in
a vessel or galley  pot.
  This kind of pills, my father used to make and
keep in my day of living with him,  and  long be-
fore I was born.   He used always to sell them at
three prices.   He used to give them in his cures
of old ulcers  and sores, frequently  two  or three
times a week.  Those who took them said they
generally  made them hungry.
   We believe they give the blood a lively circula-
tion.   We have given them to our patients inocu-
lated with the small pox, a few hours before w«j
expected the fever, having given nothing before it;
the effect was favourable, beyond all expectation ;
for they then had little or no fever at all.
  Three or four pills of common size, is a common
dose ; it is expected only to be a slow purge, but
U will sometimes vomit a little.  Take care to give
KUle enough, and you are always safe. 
48          PRESCRIPTIONS.
                   No. 29.
              Porter's Ointment.
   To prepare—take four pounds of square-stalk
 leaves, No. 8, two pounds of elder leaves, and one
 pound of catnip leaves ; beat them well in a mor-
 tar and mix them up in fresh butter or hog's fat,
 put them in a brass kettle or an earthen pot,  and
 heat  it or stew  it  moderately,  keeping grease
 enough in it to cover the herbs ; keep it about the
 fire, and simmer it at times for a week ;  then wring
 out the ointment, and put it by for use.
   The Green Ointment, or tent salve, is made by
 taking of the above Ointment and Venice turpen-
 tine, of each half  a pint; put them in a saucepan
 or some suitable vessel, not iron ; add of blue stone
 the size of two grains of Indian corn, and the same
 quantity of verdigrease  ; both are to be powdered
 and stirred  in: the whole is to be  boiled or sim-
 mered on the fire until it looks like green glass.—
 This tent ointment cleanses ulcers  and old sores
to the bottom, and keeps out proud flesh or fungus.
 My father used to say it would scrape a bone.—
The cure may always  be looked upon as sound,
where this  is  used.
   The first ointment is to be used for  fomenting
benumbed and withered limbs.   Such  have been
often restored by it, when many other applications
had failed.
   Sores are to be anointed with this first ointment,
around, even  when the  tent ointment is put in;— 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          49

and it is very excellent to anoint a woman's sore
breast.

                   No. 30.
       The Red Lead  Sear Cloth Salve.
  To prepare—take three half pints of Sweet Oil,
or in case that cannot be had, take the like quan-
tity of fresh butter when boiled & skimmed ; one
pint of Linseed Oil: boil them in a skillet, so hot
that it will burn a feather;  then add one pound of
pulverised Red Lead to be stirred  gently into  it,
while hot (but the oil must be somewhat cooled or
it will foam and run over)  until it becomes like
soft wax.
  This is to be spread on thin leather and appli-
ed as a Sear Cloth or Plaster ; which is not to be
taken off, until it  comes off of itself.  If matter
should gather in a sore, it must be let out  by an
awl through the plaster.

  This plaster, we have heard, was formerly in the
possession of a German, whose  name we do not
recollect, who lived latterally in Kentucky.   He
performed  many astonishing cures with it.  We
saw one  of his  patients, who had been wounded
at the Germantown battle,  1777, in the Revolu-
tionary war ; one of his legs had been broken and
shattered, while he was one of the forlorn party
sent to tear down the  fence and  palings about
Chew's house.  He told me that  due care had
                     4 
50          PRESCRIPTIONS.
been taken in setting the bone, and trying to cure
the humors,  but all in vain,  he had  to  endure
grievous sores, every application being of little or
no avail; until in about twenty years, he  fortu-
nately fell in with this German, who by the means
of this plaster, cured his leg.   It was then sound
and well, when we had this story from  his own
mouth.
  Since the secret has been disclosed, we know
families who keep it .and use it on all  occasions,
and speak in the most absolute terms in its praise.
  Before this disclosure, there were people who
would have paid twenty dollars for this receipt, n^
willingly as any of  you would pay twenty dollars
for a horse worth an hundred.
  Put this plaster to a fresh wound or cut, it keeps
all close, and you have no trouble with it as a gap-
n\g, fretting and running sore.

                   No. 31.
                Common  Salve,
May  be made by taking Horsa  balm  leaves,
(No. 13.) Burnet, Mallelct, Spikenard Root, or
;tny two or three of them ; beat  them well in a
nnrtar, and stew them in tallow and fresh butter,
equal quantities ; and  when you get the strength
of'lhe herbs,  strain and ring out the grease, an<)
add equal quantities of Rosin  and Castile Soap,
until your salve becomes a right consistence. 
              x ivx>a u xv in iUN S.          51

                    No. 32.

             Wild Pursley Ointment.

 There  is  in oiir western  country, near   our
 creeks, on places overflown in high water, a  little
 wild Evergreen, rhdch resembling Pursley.   It is
 one of the Indian medicines for Shake-bites, and
 other poisons ; they Use it inwardly and outward-
 ly ;  but when ah ointment or salve is made of it,
 ive have found it  very cool and pacifyihgto freting,
 smarting  sores;'it'is the  best  for  blistering  hu-
 mours, of any thing we have ever tried.  We have
 proved it  on sore lips  and other inveterate smart-
 ing sores.
   A little  Tar put into this ointment will add t6
i ts excellence.

                    No. 33.

            Jl Tent Salve for Fellons,
 May be made, by taking equal quantities of Brim-
 stone,  Bluestone  and Alum ; rub them in a brass
 inoitar, and when powdered, moisten it with  spir-
its, honey and white of an e^, mixed, equal quan-
 tities ;  rub altogether fifteen minutes with a brass
pestle, and make it of a right consistence.
   The property of this tent salve is to destroy fun-
 gus or inflamed flesh,  by turning it quickly into
 matter;  and if followed up and. attended rightly,
'it will bring out the core, and get to the botto;:i pi 
52          PRESCRIPTIONS.

any rising in two or three days.  Cancers may be
destroyed and eaten out by it.
  This will answer all the ends of what  is called
caustic, with  less anguish.

                   No.  34.

      The Tooth-ache, to cure by Sympathy.
The  process—The  patient is enjoined not to
narrate what is done to him, or the Tooth-ache
will return, (but a repetition  will restore the cure.)
  All the finger and toe nails are to be trimmed,
the pieces off of each are to be laid on  a rag or
paper ; to w hich also is  to be laid a lock of hair
taken from the head ; then  the gum of the  tooth
is to be gouged or pierced, to add some  blood to
the nails & hair ; then the whole is to be  wrapped
together in the  bank of some creek or gulley, at
a place where no creature  crosses.   The opera-
tor may keep the putting away to himself,  if he
pleases.
   Indians they say  have queer notions. Hah  !
but we have tried this for perhaps fifteen years, on
ourselves  and many others,  and seldom  without
immediate success.    The  tooth, it is  believed,
when it becomes easy, will never ache again.  If
the pain remains, chew root, No. 2,  or No.  16.
  If you are willing to try this, you  may rest as-
sured, it will do you no hurt. 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.           53

                   No.  35.

                The Ear-Ache,
Will often be cured by the application of Spike-
nard Root, beat it and add a little water to moisten
the root; then squeeze out the juice and  put it in-
to a phial; drop this into the ear, morning and eve-
ning, a drop or two at a time, and continue  it as
long as you please.
  This is likely to help a  deaf  ear, if any  thing
will, and is a real Indian cure.  The Oil of Spike-
nard, used in like manner, might perhaps be better
than the above.

                   No.  36.
               The King's Evil,
Has we know been cured by the Pond Lilley
Root; we mean those of a slender stein, a floating
leaf, shaped like a horse's foot, often growing in
water eight er ten feet deep : the Lilley is the most
delicious;  also floating on the water, held by a
slender  flexible stem.  The  root is knotty and
oval, like a Calamus root, and as  large nearly as
a chair-post.   This root should be boiled,  beat
soft in a mortar, and moistened to a poultice with
the liquor; a  little of which should be drank morn-
ing and evening, and the poultices repeated.
  These boils and risings in the glands of the neck,
called the King's Evil, have been also digested and 
54           PRESCRIPTIONS:

cured, by  applications of green, Frog-spawn,, tar.
ken out of springs, aud, applied; as a poultice.
  We would recommend the root and bark, i>o.
7 and No. 14, to finish the cure.

                   No,  37.
           Cold Water Applications,
We reckon among the choicest of our discoveries.
  The following, we recommend :
  When the accident of a  bruise, piercing  of  a,
nail,  a cut,  a broken, bone, an eye, knocked out
and put in  again,  &c.  takes place, immerse the
part  in cold water as quick as possible, and then
dip a large soft linen cloth into cold water and ap-
ply  it, and.  keep out the.air-  T?his  cloth should
be kept close ; aid this by dropping cold water up-
on it for fifteen minutes, and coptinue.it close  for
 twelve hours,' '^he inflamation  hy this  means
 will be kept back, and the cure by any thing else
 will be almost forestalled ;  and then a bruise,  a
 strain, or broken bone,  will scarcely swell at all;
 and a like  application to a  burn will have a simi-
 lar effect.   In about fifteen minutes the first pam
 will be over, and  the future ease will be steadiest.
   We have tried the  foregoing applications  of
 cold water, with  full  demonstrations,  for forty
 vears past.
       1             No. 38.
            The Poor Man's Medicine.
    Boil four ounces of pure  Quicksilver in an iron 
             i*K&»umrj:IONte>.           55

jipt, with two quarts of water, until half is evapo-
rated, and bottle the water for use.
  The same  Quicksilver will serve,  again and
again, as  often as  you want a fresh  supply of
the water.   This medicine is said to be as simple
in taste, and  as safe in using  as so  much simple
water, and  may be drank as often and as much
as you please.  The virtues are many : it maybe
used externally or internally ; it destroys worms,
purifies the blood, opens  obstructions, scours  the
glands,  cures all impurities of the  skin, ulcers,
sc,ald head,  &c.
  The yellow water in horses we have often  cu-
red, by  boiling only one ounce of Quicksilver in a
large pot of water , letting the horse drink a gal-
lon at a time, or mixing  his feed with the water ;
continuing  the course for about  ten days, and
boiling the. Quicksilver again and again ;  and I
have found  them cured, of imposthumes, follow-
ing the throat-distemper, by the same means.

                    No. 39.
A Sioeal oj  Virginia Snake Root  and Sage Tea,
Is one of our old remedies for fevers.
   Take one drachm of Virginia Snake Root, and
make it into a decoction, say half a gill ; let  the
patient  drink it and cover warm in  bed ; then
have ready  a coffee-pot of weak Sage  Tea,  say
three pints ; let the patient begin to drink in ten 
56           PRESCRIPTIONS.

or fifteen minutes, as warm and  as  much as he
can, out of the spout, not rising or uncovering.—
By this drinking keep up the sweat  for 4 hours ;
then cool moderately and take care of all expo-
sure and excess for the first twenty-four hours.—
Follow it with No. 9 or 25.
  This sweat we have  often given  (after a puke
or purge) in obstinate fevers, such as the nervous,
the intermittent, the fever and ague,  &c.
  We have used this sweat in old second or third
day  agues, always  with success.   We have cho-
sen to begin  about  an hour before the ague, and
take up the hour of ague in the sweat.   In other
cases, we  have chosen the most well  time, and
never omit it when pain or sickness attend the rise
of a fever.   Chips or blocks of wood taken out of
a pot of  boiling water,  may  be  wrapped up and
put in the bed with the patient,  to  set the sweat
agoing.
  This sweat should be repeated  again, after two
or three days,  if there is  not manifest signs of re-
covery.
  Such a sweat has appeared to us, to move off
the obstructions to a right circulation, and to take
away the very offending matter out of the blood.
  Persons very weak, and especially  those who
have pain in any part  of the body, or all over
them, ought to try this.  But it should always be
followed with bracing medicine, such as the above 
rK£b<jtujr±fONS.           57
cited, or  No. 4.   Dont  omit, even if the patient
eeems fairly well by the sweat.

                  No. 40.

             To cure the Jaundice.
I. Give the emetic No. 1.
8. Give the Pills  No. 41, every night, what the
  stomach can bear.
3. Make a diet drink of wild  Cherry bark, and
  use it constantly till well.
4. If the case is obstinate, give one dose of No.
24, to move the perspiration.
5. Then save  the urine, say a  pint,  mix it into a
  cake with rye meal, and burn it slowly behind
  the back-log twice or three times, (per sympa-
  thy.)
6. Give Chalybeate Oxymel, (No. 44.)
   Doctor Hole relates, that  he was cured of  an
obstinate habit of the  Jaundice, into which he had
several time relapsed, and which he had proved on
others for twenty years, with the most happy suc-
cess.  The process is as follows :
  1.  Put wild Cherry bark  into stale cider, (say
a double  handful to two quarts.
  2. Take the scale that forms on an old chimney
back-wall, or on an old iron trammel, scrape off a
handful and make a decoction.   Drink turn about
of each of these, five  or  6ix times a day, as much
as the stomach can  take, and  follow it up till the 
S3-          PRESCRIPTIONS.

cure is perfected.   Probably there is a good por-
tion of oxegen in the scale', that is generated by
the smoke.  See note, No. 44.
   You can have choice, and, if one thing wont do,
try other.
                   No. 41.
             Pills for the Jaundice.
   Tak;e. three ounces of China Rhubarb, ppwder-
ed, (No.  6) one drachm, of Myrrh, and 1 drachm
of Alloes, rub them, fine, and put altogether, and
moisten it with spirits to form a mass of Pills.—
They must be  made up soon? or they become
hard.   We choose  always to keep sonic of this
preparation by ujs in a, roll; we can then put some
of it into a phial'of spjrks, 'so, that a teaspoonful
vyill be a  dose.  This roll will make excellent bit-
ters, will  be an antidote against Dysentery, excess
of Bile, the Jaundice,  &c.
   A small quantity of these pills will answer to re-
lieve costiveness ; they answer best, gently or gra-
dually taken;  they will  then strengthen the sys-
tem.  In this they will  be  good in Diarrhoea or
fluxes,, but are not equal to  No. 25.

                  No.  42.
      An Antidote for Epidemic Diseases.
   Prepare you  a  few brimstone matches, and a
bottle half full of spirits;  light a match  and thrust
it into the mouth  of  the  bottle, so as to fill the 
             FRESCRI-PTIONS;          S9-

empty part with smoke.  When the  match is. ta-
ken ouk puj your thumb, on> the. mputh, and shake
the spirijts, to' incorporate  the smoke what they
pan.  Do thus with several matcHes..
  This we had  from an old  man, when we was
but little boys.   We remember he ' saifL a dr,am of
this rum will keep you from  catching'the Small
Pox or Meaz^esj-'yes, if you  will drink a dram of
this in the morning; you. may go. safely where the
plague is all  day.  l^ut we  rather suppose it had
better be taken, mofrn'ng, npon and night.  We
tried it ourselves before we had the Small Pox.—
See Antidote, No. 5.

                   No. 4&

          Ifuron's Cure for the Dropsy.
  Take Bitter Sweet  Root,  White Elder Roots,
Horse Radish Roots, of each  a large  handful,
steep them in  one gallon of  Qider.  Take a tea
cup full in the  morning,  and  always  before meal
times through the day.
  In a very  weak case, a jelly of calf's feet is to
be eaten cold,  with vinegar.  If the  stomach  re-
jects food, a  little  Llixer of  Vitriol made into
punch, maybe  allowed.   Diet is not to be high
seasoned, but  any kind to  be liberally used, that
the stomach will take.  This medicine  may  be
prepared with  Vinegar, or even with  water where
cider cannot be had.  This receipt came to  us 
PRESCRIPTIONS.
  well attested;  by it was performed several singu-
  lar cures, after patients  were given over by phy-
  sicians for lost.
    A single instance experienced but in one trial,
  from a child of our own we wish to relate.
    Our youngest daughter, when about two years
 old, lost her appetite, became uncommonly dispo-
 sed to sleep, her  sprightliness turned to stupidity,
 and in a few days she became bloated and appa-
 rently filled with water  or dropsical swelling in
 her whole frame  ; and  as we  could not conceive
 how we could administer any means of relief to
 her by any thing we could give  her internally, we
 studied to endeavor it by an external application.
  We took Horse Radish and Spiknard Root, (two
 diuretics) equal  quantities, pounded  them in a
 mortar, green,  and applied them by way of pol-
 tice to the bottoms of her  feet.   The  wished  for
 effect, a plentiful  emission of urine took  place,
 and cleared the dropsy in about fortv-eight hours
 We gave her a k\v doses of Linseed  Oil, agreeably
 to No. 55, and  she soon became well and hearty
   But try the following (No. 4-1) for the  Dropsy.
                   No.  44.
              Chalybeate Oxymel.
   Take two  ounces of  Columbo Root,* one
  * The Columbo Root, if left in whole  pieces, may af-
terwards be strung and dried, it will ucn be good To
chew, or to be used instead of barks.          * 
 drachm of Virginia Snake Root, twenty ten-pen-
 ny Nails, and one quart of good Vinegar, put them
 together in an iron pot; simmer it a little over fire;
 then  let it stand forty-eight hours ;  then boil it
 down to a pint; strain and wring out the liquor,
 and return it into the pot ; then add one pound
 of sugar  and a gill of spirits ; simmer it down on
 coals to the consistence of molasses, and bottle it
 up for use.
   The common dose for a grown person may be
 a tea-spoonful,  morning, noon  and  night, when
 the stomach is empty, about ten minutes before
 meals ; but begin with less, and increase the dose,
 as you find the stomach can bear it.
   The intention of this medicine  is to recruit the
 blood, and strengthen the system.   It may be tak-
 en a week, and then miss a week ; and then take
 it again; and so  at intervals renew tjp  course,
 more or less, until the patient is quite welf fy strong.
   In consumptive cases the  person should drink
 ground ivy or agrimoney tea, for two or three days
 at a time, and then miss as long, and then resume
it again.  The latter of these herbs is preferred for
bracing and  giving strength, but  the  former is
conceived to touch the disorders of the liver.
  This medicine will be  found a superior  remedy
for worms,  as those vermin cannot live with the
iron.  It is most excellent for the weaknesses of
women, either under suppressions, or  in excess of 
6$          PRESuitiriiu^o.

the fluor of either kind.   But wneh it takes place,
the dose should be omitted until it subsides.  It
may be given to finish the cure bf/feVers in gener-
al.  It merits atrial in all reduced  and low cases
of the  blood, sUch as consumption, dropsy, asth-
ma, jaundice, derangement, &c. to recruit the ox-
ygen,* or iron property in the blood ■; a deficiency
of which, as we conc'eive, is the radical cause of
these diseases.
   Healthy persons have a right proportion of ox-
ygen; but an excess or deficiency  may either of
them be  the  occasion of disease.   The excess of
oxygenf is not so much to be feared, and  occurs
but seldom ;  but deficiency of oxygen happens ve-
ry often, and we expect always in consumption,
dropsy, jaundice and palsy ; but we leave it to fu-
ture observation more  accurately  to  determine

  * Take Notice—There is a certain part of our bodily
substance that we call oxygen, or iron ; this is the ba-
sis of strength.  There is abundantly  more oxygen in
the blood than in any part of us.  When blood "is taken
in a vessel and stands'to be cold—1. There is the clods,
or viscid, tenacious  part, called the grume :  2. The
thin and  watery part, called the serum.  It is said there
is much more  iron in the serum than in the grume.
  f We have noticed that blacksmiths are very subject
to rheumatic  pains : the cause, we  conceive, is an ex-
cess of oxygen ;  and this  may  most generally exist
with, and be the root of the diathesis of plethora and
irritation.  The remedy most probably will be No. 30
and 72. 
             ruusuKin IONS.          63
this.  We have however observed,  that  black-
smiths, or those working in iron, seldom, if ever,
have the c6nsumption or dropsy.
  A late patient of our£, who had been a year or
two in a state of melancholy, told 'us that the elec-
trical machine had been tried on her, but the same
charge  that w;6uld shock other people hard, had
little or  no  effect on her.  We leave it to those
whohave opportunity (to observe, whether the elec-
trical shock will not be the same in the cases Of
consumption, dropsy and jaundice ; and whether
it does not announce a deficiency of oxygen.
  But the great question with us is,'how to  restore
the oxygen in a consumptive  person ; iron or a
preparation of it being our alternative. Two things
we fear—1. An increase of the pulmonary,  or pain
in the breast; 2. Bleeding at the  lungs.  Our pre-
scription. No. 44, we conceive will not expose the
patient either as to pulmonary or bleeding at the
lungs ;  but will gently  increase the oxygen, and
innocently prepare good blood ':  the issue will be a
recovery to good health, if such a thing be possible.
   My children  and friends—after you look over
this, says Dr. Smith, when you  see a person with
a white  face, male or female, you will be ready t6
say " That person wants Father Smith's chalybeate
oxymel"  No. 44.
                    No.  45.
:Dr.  Tiffin's prescription for derangement or maria.
   Get Gum  myrrh, asafcetida,  aloes and caster, 
04          PRESCRIPTIONS.
 of each a quarter of an ounce, opium and cam-
 phor, one drachm each ; powder them seperately,
 and mix them all together with oil of amber suffi-
 cient to make them up into pills the size of garden
 peas.  Get at the same time two ounces of Peru-
 vian bark, red or yellow,  and half an ounce of
 rust of steel; mix them well together into a pow-
 der.  Give two of the above  pills morning, noon
 and night; give also a teaspoonful heaped up of
 the powder  every day, an hour  before breakfast
 and dinner, which is twice a day.  The diet may
 be any thing that the patient likes best, and which
 will best agree with  the stomach.
   This prescription we was  honored with by  Dr.
 Edward Tiffin, late  governor of the state of Ohio-
 We used it for our daughter,  Nancy John,  who
 had been four months in a state of alarming mania,
 or derangement; when she  had taken it  about
 two weeks, she suddenly came to her reason ; and
 after using agrimoney  tea  a  few weeks, became
 very stout and healthy.
  The Doctor, in his letter to us, states, her dia-
thesis « I take to be  great debility, and (to use a
common expression)the nervous system unstrung."
  We think to apply in such a case No. 44 and
26, also No. 9, will likely prove a cure.

                   No 46.
         • Syrup for the Dysentery.
  We  have for a long time, perhaps 30 years, pre. 
PRESCRIPTIONS.           65
scribed in the following manner, and it has nearly
always been used with success :  Take  a handful
of garden  rhubarb, or patience,  or  horse dock
roots, or  any one of these,  and shred them up
green or dry.  Also,  a handful of persimmon or
wild cherry bark (either will do) put the root and
the bark together into a quart mug or pitcher that
will bear the fire, and put in with them four table
spoonfuls of sugar, and fill up the quart  with boil-
ing water ; set it on the coals until it is drawn like
tea.  The patient is then to begin to take it, a  ta-
blespoonful at  a time (if a grown  person) every
fifteen minutes, until ease begins to take place in
the bowels ; then not so often,  and so by  degrees
break off; yet  take some until good health takes
place.
   This sirup should  be boiled every  day,  and a
little spirits put into it to keep it from getting sour;
and may be filled up and sweetened to the taste,
or renewed as there is occasion.
   Give  at the same time a  flour coffee  (wheat or
rye meal fried brown) boil it with milk and sugar
in it, to fill  up the belly, and promote sweat by «
plentiful drinking of it hot or cold : this will great-
ly assist the cure.
   By this course the  faeces, or lumps in the illium
guts (which occasion the dysentery) will be grad-
ually dissolved, and the cure be permanent ;  but
the first effect or symptom of cure,  is ease in the
belly.  See No. 25, 9, and 44.  This Sirup may
be given in any diarrhoea or flux. 
g6          PRESCRIPTIONS.
                    No. 47.
          The Croup, or Bold Hives,
That so alarmingly choak  children to death,  be-
ing a swelling or stoppage of the lungs, we have cu-
red by the following sirup for 12 years past :  the
success has been truly singular ; it is a discovery
of our own, by mere  accident.
   Take a handful of John's wort, No.  22, and  a
handful of sage, and sugar sufficient ;  make them
into a sirup, in the manner directed in the forego-
ing number.  The dose for  a child  six months
old, should he only a  teaspoonful ; but to one six
years old, a  tablespoonful.   The times and  con-
tinuance may also be like No. 46.   See Nq. 18.
                    No 48.
Sirup for the Quinsy, catarrh, and ulcerated  sore
                    throat.
   To prepare—Take one ounce of squaw  root
dried, or a like  quantity of green, No.  17,  half
as much  blueberry root, No. 16; boil the roots
in three quarts of water to less than  one, add al-
um and honey to make it rough and  palatable.—
Gargle the throat and swallow some pretty often.
   Report is, that a  noted root doctor of Jersey,
near  Elizabethtown, made  use of  this with the
greatest success.   We had it from Dr. Hole,  who
highly recommended it; but a3 these  complaints
scarce ever have prevailed  where  we have lived,
we have never put it to the trial.   A tea made of 
PRESCRIPTIONS:           «7
the root No. 16, will probably be a relief and cure
in the most of such cases.
                   No. 49.
               For the Canker.
  The canker is. a hot hunur which  has its seat
in the stomach ; shows itself in whitish  sore spots
on the tongue, palate,  and inside of the mouth and
lips, that will sometimes eat and consume away
the palate.   It is  generally attended with fever
and great thirst, uneasiness and  distress.   Chil-
dren  have been mostly  the  subjects of it,  but
sometimes it goes through the whole family ; and
to small children it has sometimes  proved very
mortal.
   A Mr. Huston, from whom we obtained the re-
ceipt, cured it easily and certainly, if applied to  in
time.   His prescription is  as follows : lignum vi*
tee chips or dust, black snake root, No. 10, squaw
root, No.  17, Virginia or Seneca snake root,black
haw bark, John's  wort, No. 22,  beech drops,  of
each a tablespoonful powdered ; of blue flag root,
and blood or puccoon roof, each a teaspoonful, if
powdered ;  these put  together are to be  made in-
to a sirup (say three half pints) in  like manner  as
No. 46, and given  like No. 47.   The dose  for  a
child is a teaspoonful every 10 minutes for the first
hour  ;  a tablespoonful for a grown person ;  then
lengthen  more and more between times of taking
of  it.   If the belly is bound, clystering, castor oil,
or some other gentle, easy purge ought to be giv- 
 6«          PRESCRIPTIONS.

 eh :  sweet fern, blue whortleberry bushes  and
 healall,* or some of them, are to be used  as a
 tea.  The sirup should be given warm, especial-
 ly at  first; and heated,  filled up or renewed, till
 its  end is answered.
   We have known  cures by this medicine when
 the tongue had become black, and the  blotches
 were spreading, eating sores.  Milk diet is to be
 avoided, and all salt and dried meat; any other
 food  may be freely  taken.  This disease  is sel-
 dom  found in southern climates.   Try for  it No,
 14  in tea, and No. 48, but more particularly  No*
 16  in tea.
                   No.  50.
               Pain in the Breast,
 Is often occasioned by an acid, or sour state of the
 stomach, or if you please, the stomach having too
 much rennet.
  Make  the following drink:  chip green horse
 radish roots, as much as will lie in a half pint tum-
 bler, and put them in a  quart bottle ; then take
 vinegar, and if strong, mix  it half water, sweeten
 this with sugar pretty sweet, and fill up your bot-
 tle with it.  Take  this drink three  times a day,
 about ten minutes before meals  ; a dose a spoon-
 ful or two, or a wine glassfull, as the stomach will
 bear it.   This  course will generally help the di-
gestion ; the want of which is frequently  the  oc-
  »The healall is a wild herb, bearing a whitish bloe-
Boot, resembling red clover. 
              PRESCRIPTIONS.           fto
  cnsion of the pain in the stomach.  But sweet tea
  or coffee must sometimes be avoided, wfth  ever^
  tog else that would turn to vinegar quSly  flS
  Sm?  HreuS a  burnin^ atthe°stomach/which
  frequently  happens by drinking  drams  *m*
 puncb, vvme, Ac these are to he°forbo?n  o?72B
 off,  as it  may be presumed  that they  arc the oc
 casion.   Our No. 86 will often  be a  tempos
 cure and ought to be tried, especially ifX«2
 f eauentTv0: fhoHc/«*>™ ; yea,  this pain fa
 of a9 chot   " "'^ PGnt UP' and the ■**«**
  Pain in the stomach is a common attendant in

shoXmPS b°ftr Tth P3in in the "
fv tried •  b  ltth-inOVe ma^ be moderate-
tie cure            W1" be m°St like,J t0 eIfe<*
No. 51.
   ntZi ™f? »£*»»*">  drowned, strangled.
   or the breath suddenly lost or struck out oflhZ
   by any accident, such as damp in a well 6%
   may often be restored ^theJoO^fJ^^
 m^H a Pr°nf ^strong lungs Sy ni,
 mouth to the sufferer's, holding at the R™!  ♦;,„
 his nostrils close, and blow hi^biea h (as we   "v!
 «..*£ aS,heCln inl0the  ^ererVK   n2'
Tn breeatheaIendh,Tbt0 "^  whi,e  he*«* *
nXs often as he o™ ***?*  the effort a9 «*«
ana as otten as he can, perhaps a hundred hW
u* self respiration does not take^ place sooner.  A 
70          PRESCRIPTIONS.

i-oed or pipe like a weaver's quill may be made
Use of for the purpose, and  sometimes a pair of
hand bellows have been used  ; but we would prefer
the breath,  as most likely to keep the lungs  and
blood warm.
  For drowned  persons,  cloths dipt 'in  hot water
ought to be laid upon the breast as warm as a liv-
ing  person could bear, and a blanket dipt in like
manner ought to be wrapped round the naked bo-
dy,  and the hands and arms, feet and legs should
be rubbed with hot wet cloths ; this warming and
rubbing is prescribed in  order to keep the blood
from coagulating.   Drowned persons, we think,
should not be rolled upon a barrel,  but only be
laid with their heads down,  so that  the water  in
them may run out, and  no violence  done them ;
but the blowing  should be begun and kept on as
soon as possible.
  'In a treatise that we have read respecting the re-
covery of drowned persons, it is stated (If we mis-
take not)  that  they have  been  recovered  w ho
have been under the water five or six  hours.
  We once happened to be present at the town of
Washington, Georgia, when a person was struck
dead (as we say) with thunder; and we witnessed
the before described process, as it relates to blow-
ing the breath, and beheld the recovery of the per-
son.  This happened on a  court day, about 30
years ago : many as well as  us, saw the mel-
ancholy, but afterwards joyous scene. We assist- 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          7K

cd shortly after the shock, in opening a vein in the
young woman's arm : but there was no spring or
motion in the blood.   The whole process  that
proved her  recovery was ordered by Mr,  Jer.
Walker.
                   No- 52.
    Slopping of Blood, and of Hemorrhages,
Are of great importance to be known.   If you
f-hould be wounded, so as to wish to  stop the
bl jod : 1 Close the wound as close as you can, and
put to it a large cloth wet with cold water, and drip
on a little cold water  for  15 minutes, keeping it
as close as possible for  twelve hours ;  sometimes
it will be best to take a few stitches to close the
orifice.   But apply No. 37 in preference to eve-
ry thing,  if you can ;  and then the plaster,  No.
30.   Or 2.  Take vinegar and dissolve alum  in it
as much as is suitable,  then scrape the soot  from
the bottom of a dinner pot, and moisten it  with*
the alum and vinegar so as to make a small poul-
tice, and  apply that ; or if you can get  it, take the
powder of the leaves of lamb's quarter, and apply
closely :  this well known herb has been  proven
to be  first rate for stopping blood.   Or 3.  Boil a
strong decoction of the  bark of the pignut hicory,
this is the Indian styptic, and probably as  good
as any thing.
   In  hemorrhages or  discharges of blood  from
the womb or bowels—take a little vinegar prepar-
ed with alum as  above, give  a teaspoonful every 
 72          PRESCRIPTIONS.

 ten minutes, or as much and as often as the
 stomach will take.   At the same time, if the case
 is urgent, apply cloths wet with vinegar prepared
 with alum as above, or in cold water, put  them
 cold on the belly,  and repeat them as occasion
 requires.  But sometimes it is needful to take a
 little blood from the arm, as that will turn the cir-
 culation ;  then  probably the  above  applications
 will take the desired effect.   Alum dissolved in
 water, or alum whey, taken as much as the stom-
 ach can bear,  until the  hemorrhage  ceases, are
 proper in  extreme cases.  But drink agrimoney
 tea, if you can get  it, for two or  three days, as
 stated in No. 9 : and if  the  unhappy sufferer is
 much  exhausted, to restore  strength and  good
 blood, try No. 44.
                   No. 53.
             Bleeding at the  Nose,
 Is sometimes to be a little indulged,  as they say
it prevents the headache ; but generally it is from
 debility, and shews  a weak  state of the system,
therefore the sooner it can be prevented the bet-
 ter.   In order to which,  observe the following  di-
 rections :
   I. Blow your nose pretty smartly two or three
 times, and then bear against it where the blood is-
 sues,  if yon can, with  your  thumb, and hold it
 close a tew minutes. 2.  If this fails, dissolve  al-
 um in good vinegar, as  in No. 52,  dip a little lint
 or fine rag in it, and put it into the  nostril.  UL 
               PRESCRIPTIONS.          73

 But sometimes  a habit of bleeding at the nose
 frequently  and  every  day takes place,  and the
 blood becomes very  vapid, so that  it will hardly
 stain a cloth.  When such a habit takes place, the
 only effectual remedy that we have ever fouud  is
 to learn the person to smoke  tobacco.   This wo
 have had to try ourselves, or be exposed to bleed
 to death at  the nose ; but smoking a little every
 day has always overcome this habit, as far as our
 knowledge extends.'
                     No. 54.
             Bleeding at the Lungs,
 We believe, may always be considered as one  of
 the expressions of great debility.  What  we shall
 say about it, take as follows:
   1. Try about a teaspoonful of fine salt, which
 you  may lick up by itself out of your hand ; do
 this every day, or oftener, if the complaint is ur-
 gent.  2. The most likely thing that now  strikes
 our mind, to be a radical cure, is to  make use of
 agrimoney lea, the roots as well as the tops ; use
 it  cold about three days at a time, and then miss
 three days,  and so use  it as a diet  drink in some
 form.  See No.- 9.
   You will  wonder, perhaps, why we  are always
commending No.  9 for every thing :  but as a rea.
son we will state the following fact, which we per-
sonally know to be the truth :
   An old man  of our acquaintance, after a spell
qf the gravel, which nearly took his life, was for 
74          PRESCRIPTIONS.
 several months unable to retain his  urine, but it
 rtript from him continually.  He was at length ad-
 vised by Dr. George Foulk, a  German, to drink
 agrimoney tea ; thi3 tea being  the only medicine
 he used, he became a  well man  in a  few days
 being as free from this complaint as in his youth
 and he was then above eighty years of age.
                    No.  55.
                  Linseed Oil,
 For children supposed to be troubled with worms,
 has been generally our medicine.   In raising our
 own family we have scarcely ever given any thins
 else.   Let it  be taken as follows :
   Give a teaspoonful of linseed oil,  put with  as
 much sugar or molasses, morning, night and morn-
 ing ;  that  is,  three times, then miss three, then
 give it again, and so  repeat it until the child has
 taken it nine times.   This is a dose for a chi'd two
 or three years old, and  respect  should always be
 had to the age and strength of the  patient  But
 see No. 44 for worms, and No. 21.

                   No.  56.
 Preserving the teeth, and curing  an odious  taste in
  ""mouth, may always, we presume, be effected
  by this htlle simple process:              -"

 . Only wash and rinse your mouth every morn-
ing in your own urine.                  y morn-
  Ilezekiah Smith, D. D. deceased, late of Ha*. 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          75

c'rhiU Massachusetts, had his teeth  all entire when
he was above sixty years old.   He told us the on-
ly means he had used, is what we have above ad-
vised, which he followed from the days of his youth.
  Relief from the ill taste we have proved, and we
do not think the remedy worse than the disease.
Those who know this in their youth,  and will  not
try  it, who can  pity them when they groan with
the tooth-ache!
                  No.  57.
     The cure of venomous Biles and  Stings,
Ought  to be known, if possible,  by every  body;
for  a little delay will often render the bite or sting
dreadful and sometimes incurable.   How impor-
tant must it be to be able  to cure the bite or sting
of serpents and spiders, especially the black spider
with a red spot  on  his back, called the tarntula, so
common and dreadful  in  southern climates,  hor-
nets, wasps, bees, &c.
  To cure any  of these, you may only wet a thim-
bleful of indigo with good  vinegar, to  make it into
mud, and apply it to the bite or sting.   If done
soon, the danger will immediately be over ;  and
it is stated to me, that the place will not swell at all.
  The above is a discovery lately made in Sussex
county,  New-Jersey, where the snake called  the
pilot, or copper-head, was so common and bit so
many, that the  mowers would scarcely venture
into the meadows,  until this discovery was made.
They then kept some of the indigo mud  by them, 
70          PRESCRIPTIONS.
nmd found that they could cure themselves at once
by this simple  application.
  But see Nos. 10, 11, and 17, and you may also
remember that honey, sweet oil and hog's lard are
neverally good to  take inwardly  and outwardly,
both for bites and stings.  That man who receiv-
ed the sting of a bee on the tip of his nose,* and
died in a few hours, might likely  have been saved
by any of these, had the application been made in
due time.
                   No. 58.
                 The Thrush,
U a  sore mouth common to young children, be*
ginning in little  white scruffy  blisters.   Its cure
may be attempted,  1.  By the white elm bark,
that is, the rough, not the slippery, make of tho
bark a strong tea, wash and gargle the mouth and
let the child often swallow some, if it  is only a
teaspoonful at  a time ; this commonly brings off
the scruff in a  day or two, and does not terrify at
a}].    Or 2.  Make a sirup by dissolving loaf sugar
in three or four tablespoonfuls of water, and add
borax, (about the size of a grain of Indian corn,)
made fine; give the child a teaspoonful every two
or three hours, until you find it is mending ;  then
not so often, and by degrees omit it.
                   No. 59.
        Solution of Corrosive Sublimate,
For the  yaws and venereal  disease,  may be pre-
  • The case  was related in a late newspaper. 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.           77

pared and  applied,  by taking,  1. Ten grains  of
corrosive sublimate, to a pint of good spirits.   2.
One drachm of gum guiacum, to sweat.   3. One
drachm rhubarb, to render it purgative.
  Scorbutic and venereal diseases are  cured  by
taking a spoonful of the above, morninjjand even-
ing :_. drinking sarsaparilla tea plentifully, our bit-
ter-sweet  root,  or  little parilla,  is quite as good,
and  we presume our No. 9  may be found a great
deal better.   The course about ten,  twelve or  14
days, as the case may require.
  Caution—This course ought always to be man-
aged by a  person of  tolerable medical skill, for
edge-tools may be  dangerous in  awkward hands.
  Pain in the breast or  bowels, or excessive lax,
or salivation occasioned by the above, are remedi-
ed  by  taking brimstone ;  a large teaspoonful of
the flour of sulphur mixed in honey or molasses,
per dose.   This  is  to be repeated daily until the
complaint  subsides, and the solution omitted—
But  see No. 2.
  With this course of the solution we once saved
a man, nearly covered all over with ring-worms;
other small applications having failed.
                   No. 60.
       Solution for Tetters and Ring-worms.
  To  prepare—Take five grains corrosive subli-
mate, put two tablespoonfuls of spirits in a phial,
and  if found too  biting, add more  spirits.  The
tetter or ring-worm only need be touched with a 
feather dipped in this, two or three times daily.—•
Warts, pared a little, may be touched in the en me
manner; continue  to  touch  them till they are
dead.
                   No.  61.
        Tetters, or obstinate breaking out,
A-kin  to them, on  the hands, feet or any where
else, we think may  be cured by the following pre-
paration : take a half pint of  brandy  (peach nc
prefer^) put it in a  skillet v. ith half a gill of tar,
neat and stir them together, and stir in  a large tea-
spoonful of potash  ; then bottle  it for use.   This
need only be put on with a feather pretty plenti-
fully for a few times, say every day for four or five
dajs.   Our ideas are that some small inhabitants
have their  cities and plantations in these  regions,
but  this anointing will overcome these Anakiins
as effectually as the people of the old world were
overcome by  the flood.   You may try this for the
itch, and for  wens and cancers.

                   No.   62.
         Old Dr. Wilts' cure for Wens.
   I. The patient  must  wash the wen morning
and  evening in his own urine, and once a-day he
must grease it with grease broiled out of a wooden
potlid, such as in old times they used on their din-
ner pots; probably tlie marrow out of an old ba-
kened hog's jaw would  do as  welL   This is ex- 
riUi.ouitir.nuNS.           ?9
pected to break the wen in  about two or three
iveeks, without pain;  the contents being turned
into pure pus or matter,  will be discharged,  and
then the place may be cured up like any other
sore, and will never rise  again.  2.  Should the
above  fail to break the wen, a hubbed toad may
be just knocked in the head, and laid upon it; this,
it is said, will surely break it.   We think it ought
to be two or three times repeated.
   This account we  received from  Mr. Daniel
Hunt, of North-Carolina, above 30 years ago; he
told  us he  had made several trials of it, and al-
ways succeeded ; one  he told me of, was  as big as
a two-quart bottle,  and hung down by f. neck.—
We have made two small  trials with success, which
are all that  we have had  opportunity  to attend to.
                   No.  63.
  Cancers have been  cured by the common Snails.
   They  are to be dissolved  in salt, on a pewter
plate set on coals, and the slime or  ointment ap-
plied by way of tent.  In one instance, we was
told, only the naked snail was laid to the cancer,
and  dried fast, and  in a few days the cancer aud
its roots all  came off together.  This is a late dis-
covery, but  came to me well attested. Try mus-
cles or clams out of the creek, if  snails cannot be
had.   Cancers have also been cured by the fol-
lowing preparation  :—Take a handful of comfrey
root scraped, fry it in half a pound of hog's  lard,
 until it  is crisp, then strain  and wring out  the 
80          PRESCRIPTIONS.
grease ; then add a  tablespoonful of gunpowder
pulverised, and a quarter of an ounce of red pre-
cipitate, rubbed together; then stir in and stew the
whole to make an ointment.   Put a fresh plaster
of this on the cancer, morning and night,  until
the roots come out, or are killed ;  if it occasions
much  pain, there is too much precipitate in it—
From Dr. Chn. Coffman.
                    No. 64.
               The Tape Worm,
Has been expelled by taking alum, as follows :
  Take pulverised  alum, as much  as will  lie on
the eighth of a dollar, mix it with a  teaspoonful
of molasses or honey, and let the patient take it
in the morning, fasting ; increase the dose a little
every  morning,  and take it  three mornings and
miss three, until he  has taken it nine  mornings.—
This course, it is supposed, will destroy the whole
breed of the tape worm in a person ;  and no one
need be afraid  of alum : at the same time let the
patient drink a tea of the herbs No. 9,  12 or 24
Look at Buchanan's Family  Physician for the
symptoms.
                    No. 66.
             Ointment for Burns.
  To prepare—take six pounds of the leaves of
squaw root No. 17, or as much or as little^as you
please,  heat them well in a mortar, then'mix up
these pounded  leaves with fresh butter (say three 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.           81

pounds) then wrap it up in rolls, about a handful
hi each, and lay them on a dish or board, and set
it by in your cellar until  it is covered and  filled
with mould (say two weeks) then mash it up again
in fresh butter, and stew it gently an  hour or two
on coals, having grease enough to cover the herbs^
then strain and wring out  and put by your oint-
ment for use.
   If this ointment  can be  applied to a burn or
scald, before it blisters, it will prevent its blistering
at all ; when  a  burn is raw,  and exposed to
smart, it  will terrify a little when first applied ;
but if you melt your ointment and apply it gently
and frequently with a feather, it will terrify less
and less, until the smarting will be overcome by it,
and you may expect the  cure to be soon comple-
ted.
  The green ointment, No. 29, may be applied
in like manner, and will  have the like effect. See
also  No. 7 and No. 14.
 An account of this ointment for burns we obtain-
ed from Dr.  Peter Evans, of Montgomery, Penn-
sylvania,  about 35 years  ago.   He  used always
to keep it, and spoke in the most absolute terms
in its commendation.
  The following advice  may be useful to  some,
respecting burns :
  We  have been told, that in glass houses is kept
and used, a  preparation of lime and linseed oil:
unslacked or fresh lime  is mixed in a vessel with
                       6 
52           PRESCRIPTIONS.
water and stirred up, and when it settles, the wa-
ter being poured off,  they then  pour off the pure
whitewash, leaving the grounds or  gritty part be.
hind ; this lime batter is then mixed with  linseed
oil, put in a bottle and kept in readiness.  If they
get burnt, who work at the glass, which often hap.
pens, they take a patch large enough to cover the
affected place, and make a plaster by spreading it
with this  preparation, put it on, and go on with
their business ;  this plaster,  in common,  being an
immediate cure.   If this is true, it may  be of great
use to be more  generally known.
   Note.—Whatever is a cure for a burn, will also
be a cure for a frost bite, or sore occasioned by
frost.
                    No. 66.
    Pepper, for preventing the Fever and Ague.
   If rightly taken, we suppose,  pepper will com-
monly prevent all persons and families from tak^
ing the fever and ague,  and perhaps  most other
bilious disorders.
   At a season when you expect yourself exposed
to the ague, keep fine black pepper by you ; take
about as much as will lie on the eighth of a dol-
lar, and lick it up by itself if you please, or mix it
in a teaspoonful of molasses or a little  water, and
swallow it.  Do this every morning for about four
m<*n»ng8, before you go out, and then you may
Mtjss a week, and then take it again, and so go on. 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.           S3

 more or less, until the sickly season is over.  The
 utory connected with this process is  as follows :
   A certain  man inadvertently  rented  a good
 farm, lying in the bend of a river, but was much
 alarmed when he heard that the ague always had
 heavily afflicted every family who had lived upon
 the  place ; but meeting with  a certain physician,
 he received from him the before  stated  advice ;
 this  advice he and his family took, and found that
 they coukl escape the ague there, on that farm, as
 well as any where.
                    No 67.
                For the Asthma.
   Take sena, pulverised ; sulphur,  and sperma-
 ceti, of each one ounce, two ounces cream of tar-
 tar,  half an ounce anniseed, pulverised , rub them
 together in a mortar : take a  teaspoonful in mo-
 lasses, going to bed, two or three nights at a time,
,we have found enough to relieve us.   It is a mod-
 erate purge, and a little debilitating.
 Bee No. 44.
                    No. 63.
              Ointment for the Itch.
   To prepare—Take sulphur or  fine brimstons,
j salt black pepper, pulverised ;  gunpowder or salt
, petre, and tar, of each a tablespoonful;  put them
, in a mortar, and add  fresh butter or fat, enough
j. to make  it into an ointment, and  rub or  mix U
 veil together.  Apply this about the joints, band*, 
64
PRESCRIPTIONS.
wrists and hams, every night, for a week ; wea?
the same cloths  for a week.  This quantity will
be enough for ten persons, never fails  curiug the
itch, or does any  hurt.
             Precipitate  Ointment.
  To prepare—Take three quarters of an ounce
of red precipitate, three ounces of Venice turpen-
tine,  and half a  pound of fresh butter ;  rub the  ,
precipitate in some of  the  turpentine and buttci
in a brass or marble mortar, (not iron) or  an ear-
then  bowl, and  then  add the  remainder of the
turpentine and butter, and stir it again ; then add  |
nine spoonfuls of water, one at a time, stirring a,
little between every one, until all is well mixed,  j
  This ointment is to be applied like the forego  J
ing, only not so  liberally, for the itch.   It will al-'
so be good for any hot, itching humor.  But care
must always be taken not to expose yourself mud
in cold water, to wash in, or drink it lest it brinj  J
a worse evil than it cures.   If you get pains after
using this ointment, by being exposed, take brim-
stone (say  a teaspoonful) and drink sage tea til.
you sweat; do this for two or three nights.     I
                   No.  69.                  J
             A  dislocated Shoulder,
May  be replaced by  the  following  process:-
1. Tie the body  fast to a post with a sheet, or
something, to keep it from giving away when tbe
extension is made.  2. Let a  strong person I* 
PRESCRIPTIONS.           80
provided to grasp the arm, and be directed to puB
it in  an even direction, from the body ; he is to
be instructed, at a signal to be given by the opera-
tor, that the arm must be  moved  forward  and a
little down so that the elbow will be  moved about
ten inches,  a little briskly.  3. The operator must
put his  hands, one  under the hollow of the arm,
about where the knob or end of the  bone is, and
the other hand on the top of the shoulder,  and
when the extension is  sufficiently made, (which
in common does not take very hard pulling) he is
then to give the signal for the motion before di-
rected, and at the same instant bear the knob end
of the bone into its socket.
   This commonly is not a hard operation,  but it
is important to know rightly how to go about it
If possible, when the  shoulder is first dislocated,
apply No. 37, and  replace it as soon as you can ;
but if this has been neglected six hours, it  is best
to bathe the shoulder with  hot vinegar,  which
may be  repeated twice a day for three or four
days; afterwards cold vinegar will be best,  and
lastly, if the shoulder remains weak, try No. 37,
for a few days, beginning in  the morning,  and
continuing  the cloths  for half  an hour: but the
whale of this vinegai, &c. may be omitted, if the
first application, No. 37, be applied in time.
   Follow it then with the plaster No. 30.
                    No. 70.
              For a broken bone.
   When a bone is broken, let it be a leg. arm, or 
$B           i.u,no^lurllUJN«•
•ny other limb, the process may be  much  like
that of the dislocated shoulder, and we think  no
material difference is necessary in the  applica-
tions.   The main thing is,  at the time of the ex-
tension, try to get the brok en-offends of the bone
together as well as you can,  and have the bone
straight in its natural position.   Then  if you have
used No.  37 in time, you may immediately apply
the plaster No. 30; then  have ready a splinter
work  fixed between cloths and quilted, so as to
wrap  round and fasten with a lace  or running
string through holes, that you  may loosen it  and
take it  off when you please.   When you have rea-
son to believe that the bone is  knit   and getting
strong, the stays may be taken  quite  away ;  but
if the limb should seem to wither, or  remain very
weak, try the cold water cloth for a few days, as
advised in the foregoing No. 69—for cold water
is certainly, we think, the best thing to strengthen
such withering limbs.   After the wet  cloth is  tak-
en off, the limb should be wrapt in dry flannel,but
not kept  very hot.
  Every body  should know that a light diet is the
best for such unfortunate  sufferers,  or  especially
they should not eat much pork; otherwise they
may eat and drink according  to their own incli-
nation, what is moderate and reasonable.
                   No. 71.
         For a sprained Ancle or Wrist,
Or indeed any other wrench  or bruise,  we ad- 
            PRESCRIPTIONS.           87

vise, 1. You had better  try No. 37,  than any
thing else, at the beginning.  2.  Then  apply the
sear cloth No. 30, and little more need  be done.
3. But treat it otherwise with hot vinegar,  and
generally like as directed No. 30, or 69, 70.   The
Porter's ointment, No. 20, may sometimes be of
especial service.
                    No. 72.
General directions for venesection,  or letting blood.
   It is necessary  to know—1.  How to  bleed—
2. Where to bleed—3. When to bleed—4. When
not to bleed.
   1.  How to bleed—The  operator should have
a good  lancet, sharp as a razor ; let  him  then
put a bandage on the arm, above where he wish-
es to raise a vein, or on the leg or round the neck,
no as to prevent a sufficient quantity  of blood
from reaching the heart, and to raise a vein ; he
should also be  capable of  opening the  vein in a
delicate and suitable manner, so as to make  the
vent or  orifice  about one-fourth  of an inch in
length.
   We have been told that the Indians make a lan-
cet of a nice piece of flint,  which they  tie  in a
stick and strike it, like a fleam, with another stick,
and so open a vein very well :  and it vexes a bo-
dy to think that  any white man should make a
more bungling and indifferent  hand  at letting
blood than the poor  Indian.  But to be serious,
due care and discretion ought to be used, not to 
88           PRESCRIPTIONS.

injure the place on which you  operate.  If yon
have a spring-lancet, set it with judgment, just
fairly to go into the vein, and no deeper,  and by
no means strike through the vein.   When we liv-
ed in Georgia, in bleeding the  blacks, we learned
to rip the skin with our thumb-lancet (for we al-
ways have bled with this sort) and then we could
fairly and safely open the vein  ; and  when we
! ave bled a white person, we have chosen to do it
by a slanting thrust, in the ripping way.
  2. Where to bleed, we  think of some  impor-
tance—When you bleed for a bruise or pain, we
think it best to choose a vein as near the affected
part as you can get ; and if  for the pleurisy  or
pain in the 9ide  01 shoulder, choose your vein  on
the same side that the pain is, lest, as they say,
you should draw the  pain across the heart ; and
for a violent pain in the head, we would recom-
mend to open a vein in the forehead.   You may
by drawing a handkerchief about the  neck, raise
goo 1 veins in the forehead ; and if you  open one
of them, it will  bleed as well  as the arm, and wo
count it the safest place in the body ; the skin is a
little thicker  than elsewhere,  but the blood will
never flow  when the neck is loosed.   We have
experienced, from this operation, the most  sensi-
ble relief in our own persons, when from the pain
in our head (as  we used to  say) our eyes were
ready to burst   Let this be a general rule, when
you bind up an  arm to raise a vein, take that vein 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.           8D
which rises best.   From half a pint  to three half
pints, is a suitable portion of blood to take from a
grown  person at  a time :  and that ought to vary
according to the strength and circumstances of the
person.
  3. When to bleed, we think a matter of singu-
lar importance—Generally, it will be safe to bleed
in all cases of plethora and irritation ; then expect
the countenance  fresh and the pulse  high.   If
then the patient has pain and distress any where
in the body, especially in the breast  you may  let
blood, and it will likely be to considerable advan-
tage.   Young men, they say, should be bled, if
they are healthy, once or twice at  about 20 or 24
years old ;  and women, if strong  enough,  about
the turn of life, at the age of 40 or 45.   Pregnant
women, if strong and hardy enough, are recom-
mended to be bled about the  third,  the  fifth and
the ninth months  ; and  near to  delivery,  when
their labor is like to be tedious.
  4. When not to bleed, is a matter of still more
importance for  us to know than the former, if  it
be possible—we advise generally not to bleed in
the cases of weakness, debility and languor ; then
the pulse will be low, the countenance  pale, and
bleeding will  always  then reduce  the patient and
make him more weak, and sometimes, we believe
will be the occasion of inevitable death.
                    NO. 73.
     For the Dew-worm, or child's sore head.
  Take one spoonful of tar, one  spoonful of the 
DO           PRESCRIPTIONS.
scraping of a copper kettle,  black  pepper  and
brimstone, of each a teaspoonful,  and tallow  the
size of a hen's egg ; put all in one pint of spirits,
and simmer them together over a fire to an oint-
ment.   Anoint the child's head once a day  until
it is well, and let him wear the same cap.

                   No. 74.
             Ointment for the Piles.
  To prepare—Take elder roots, hearts of plan-
tain, of burdock, of mullein,  mallows, catnip  and
motherwort, a handful of each;  to be stewed in
one pound of fresh butter—with this the patient it
frequently to grease himself.   See No. 14.
  Note—JVus. 73  and 74 are old  Dutch  receipts,
that have often been proved.
                   No.  75.
      For  a person breaking out with Boils.
  Take  elder stalks one year old,  cut them in
chunks, split them open, and fill a  pint mug or ves-
sel with them, and put on cold water to stand all
night; let the person drink half a pint of the water
in the morning.  Renew and  drink three morn-
ings successively.   This little course will so purge
and  cool the blood, as  to prevent their rising  any
more.                                       J
  Boils are generally  thought to be  a sign of
health, but they are so sore, that you will wish to
prevent them, if  you can.  When a  boil  first an- 
PRESCRIPTIONS.          &\
pears, it commonly has a little white head with a
small drop of matter in it; if then you will pierce
it,  a little lower than  the skin, and squeeze out a
drop of black blood from the bottom, it will dio
away and  hurt you  no more.   But sometimes
boils rise in great  abundance, and we have heard
of some instances of their taking  life.  Prevent
them then,  in time, if you can.

                   No.  76.
The cure of bilious, typhus or nervous fevers may be
   attempted in t\s jollowing manner :
   1. Give No. 1,  to move the bile ; this is prefera-
ble to any thing else, we believe, to lay the foun-
dation of a  cure, as it will brace the stomach  (the
common ipecacuanha may answer) and fit it to
leceive the  following:
   2. As soon as  the puking has ceased a little,
give No. 25,  and continue this accoiding to the
prescription, until the patient is quite well.
   3. K>ep  No. 26 in readiness, and if  any thing
of the flatulent or cholic kind is perceived, give it
freely according  to the prescription, until that is
overcome ;  Nos. 25 and 26 may both be used to-
gether, and we believe they will  always be found
sufficient to carry off the remaining bile, and  they
will give ease  and sleep ;  but the patient  should
take, as soon as he can, the coffee directed in No.
46, and proceed to other nourishment as the sto-
mach will take it: this commonly finishes the cure. 
    W          PRESCRIPTIONS.

 ' \    S.  When  an obstinate hicup has taken place,
 , j  we have dissolved three or four pills, No. 26, in a
  ']  spoonful of hot water, and given it;  and continued
' 1  to repeat it while there was occasion.  Perhaps
 „-j  No. 16 in tea would do as well, or  better.
      4.  At the beginning, if there is extreme pain in
; j  the head, take a little blood from the forehead, as
    mentioned in No. 72, but the quantity ought to be
 ■j  according to the strength of the patient; and blood
    in like manner  may be taken from the arm, in
    case of extreme pain or distress in the breast.
     5.   If coldness of the extremities remain after
    the operation of the emetic,  give No. 24.   W«
'.;"  have found the  needed, though despaired of, assis-
    tance from this.  We h ive by this course  recov-
    ered persons who had been vomiting several days,
    (as long as ten) and have found them  recover,
    when even dying symptoms  were  upon them.__
    We have tried to excuse  persons who have been
 ,  long and hard vomiting, from taking  No.  1, but
 ;  have found it impracticable.  These  hard cases we
 <  have succeeded  in,  when  their  physicians  have
"  abandoned them.  See preface.
 *    6  Every body should  know, that  a  passage
*  should  1)3 procured, in a fever, thro' the draught ;
   but after the puke, if need be,  it will be best to
   procure a passage by  injections.
     7.  If the fever does not yield to the above appli-
   eations in two or three days,  give the sweat No.
   S9;  and always  try to keep up the perspiration by 
PRESCRIPTIONS.          93
 a plentiful drinking of some suitable herb or root
 tea, such as No. 9, 10 or 12, or sage tea.
   It matters little  what you call the disease—re-
 mittent, camp, bilious, nervous, typhus, yellow fe-
 ver or sick stomach ;* all will yield to the above
 directed  process, or wc are mistaken—the com-
 mission of death only excepted.
                   No.  77.
 For a swelling of the belly and legs after a fever', or
               by taking a cold.
   Take a pint of inustarl seed, ground or pound-
 ed, and  a double handful of horse radish roots,
 scraped or shreded : steep them in half a gallon of
 6tale cider, in a jug, and shake it often.   Ater 24
 hours begin with halt'a gill  per dose, or what the
 stomach can  bear;  take it in the morning, andf
 always before meals through the day, till you arej
 relieved ;  and continue to take some at times.   |
   If hot pimples or  boils break  out on the skin,T
 wash them with a decoction of maple bark.   This,
has been  found a very  successful  remedy on thejl
 southern states.                               Ijj
   If cider cannot be  had, this medicine may bef
 Srepared with vinegar, reduced,  sweetened,  &c?
 ke No. 50.                                   ,■

  * The yellow fever and the sick stomach we take to*
 be the same disease; their difference  being chiefly It I *
 external circurmtauces.  But they are both, property''
 speaking, the bilious fever. 
    94          PRESCRIPTIONS.

}                     No. 78.

 r     The Hydrops, a cure for tht Hydrophobia,  or
 \                 ,offe of a mad dog.
      A certain herb b now known, and cultivated in
 v   gardens, that from the best information is an effec-
    tual remedy for this most alarming and awful dis-
    order.
    •  Thisj^erb we call hydrops, but by some of the
    Germahs.it is called huner dorm (or alsine, latin)
    hnd from among them it came into use.  But from
||i   a Dutch herbal, the herb by that name appears to
 .1   be another thing—that has a yellow blossom, this
h[   a beautiful pink red, that lives through the winter,
'•?!.   this dies with  tiie frost, and comes up from the
'£•}   seed in the spring.

      The hydrops is a small running vine, a little re-
    sembling  the  madder; its stalk  or vine  is four
    square, having  two leaves at a joint, one on  each
ijl   side, and the next leaves are transverse ;  a grown
 '"  leaf is about three-quarters  of an inch in length,
fjy'  a beautiful oval, without notches or roughness any
 ,   where ;  the under side  of the  leaf is  thickly
    speckled with  brown or  dun-colored  spots, not
    much larger than  the  prick of a pin ; on the set of
'\[  the  leaf,  joining the stalk, are sprouts, some be-
    coming roots, some new vines, and some the beau-
 ,  tiful lilly, which begins to show its red leaf when
    near the size of a  grain of wheat, supported by a
    little round stem about  an inch and a  half  from 
PRESCRIPTIONS.           95
the stalk;  the bud or heart abounds with these lit-
tle transverse leaves, closely crowded.
  These vines put out thick in every direction,
creeping on the ground and taking root at the dis-
tance of a foot or two from  the first root;  and
when it has once gone to seed, it will come again
the next year without sowing.
  The tradition or saying is, that this herb ought
to be gathered on the longest  day in the  year, in
the forenoon;  but we believe  this is only  a foible,
for  it must be like other  herbs, best when in its
bloom and greatest perfection.  The Dutch her-
bal  directs to gather the huner dorm when the
sign is in the twins, or breast; and they  may do
that who please, we dare say it will do.
  However, the old lady, mother Cints, in whose
garden we found  the herb, and who gave us the
most correct account, which she states from cer-
tain facts with which she was acquainted, says it
will do to take it green out of the garden, at  any
time, and  make a  tea of it, and it will cure the
bite of a mad dog.

  The manner in which the hydrops was directed
to be given by father Miller, is to have it dried  and
powdered, and to put as much of the powder as
will lie on  a quarter of a dollar, on a piece of bread
and butter, and let the person or creature eat it j
and let this be done three days successively. (But
we may know that a cow or a horse may take 
96          PRESCRIPTIONS.
 ten times as much ss a man )   It is advisable to
 lose no time in giving it
   In this manner a family with whom we are ac-
 quainted, made a fair and successful proof of it.—
 A boy and a dog or two took the powdered herb,
 and continued well;  while some other creatures,
 bitten at the same time, underwent the awful  ag-
 ony and died.
   The efficacy of this herb, in curing the bite of
 the mad dog, is  asserted by  so many,  that no
 doubt of it can remain.   It has been published  in
 public news, and in a Dutch almanac, {jut we have
 not had the advantage of either of them  to  assist
 us in  this prescription.  This is the cure mentioned
 in the preface.
   Our acquaintance with the hydrops is too small
 to enable us to  judge much of i\s virtues  or of its
 general   operation.   But   we  make  no  doubt
 that it possesses the most rare qualities.  Probably
 it may be found an  antispasmodic  of the  most
 salutary kind.  We think it may safely be tried in
 mania or derangement, epilepsy, cramp, hysterics,
 &c. and the quantities, times and manner of giv-
 ing, may vary at discretion.
                  No. 79.
    For a diarrhoea, or looseness of the belly.
 ^ The following has been found peculiarly effica-
cious, when other means have generally failed :
  Take the yard or pizzle of a buck (get it saved
 end dried by a deer hunter) reduce  it to powder. 
PRESCRIPTIONS.
97
but a spoonful of the  powder  in a bottle  with a
pint of spirits ;  take this solution  in small quanti-
ties, every hour, till relief is obtained ; say from
a teaspoonful to  two tablespoonfuls, as the case
may require.
   This we remember to have heard, was used in
camp, in  the old  Canada war with the French,
when the complaint was very common, and had
carried off many  ; but when  this  was applied,  it
was found a speedy and certain cure.
   We have known this kept as a family medicine,
and given with success to both man and beast
                   No.  80.
     For a stranguary, or depression of urine.
   When a r erson would make water, but cannot
but with  pain and difficulty, from  whatever occa-
sion, the  following may be tried ;
   Make  a tea of suti °ry elm, buds  or bark, or
lyn buds or bark,  either may be used ; the tea
must be  plentifully drank  and continued till the
patient is well, less or more.   Small doses of nitre
or camphor, are the usual remedies ;  but the above
tea is perhaps preferable, and the others may be
resorted  to if it fails.
                    No. 81.
      For the diabetes, or an excess of urine.
   We have found a coffee made  of flaxseed, [amJ
used as a constant drink, of singular benefit.
                      7 
95           PRESCRIPTIONS.

                   No. 82.
     For a person struck with the dead Palsy
the-following advice may be highly important :
  Gfet good spirits of any kind, such  as Jamaica
spirits, brandy, gin or  whisky, it is not material
which, but the first has been oftenest tried;  Wet
with the spirits the  hand, arm, foot and leg,  and
the whole affected side,  three times a-day, and rub
the most numb and affected part with a woolen
cloth ; continue the application for two or three
weeks, or until a recovery takes place.
  This  application has been several times tried,
that  we know of.   We heard  of it in New-Jersy,
in several instances, more than twenty years ago ;
but never had an opportunity, till since the present
copy of this work was written, to see the proof of it
under our own notice, and this was with success.
                  No.  83.
     To expel Worms by external application.
   Take beef gall and rue juice, equal  quantities
if green,  and a like proportion of the gall and a
decoction of the dried rue ;  stew  them  together
till you  can spread a plaster with  it.   Then
apply a plaster about three inches square on the pit
of the stomach, and expect in the space of forty-
eight houre the worms to be expelled ;  some gen-
tle purge should be given, about the second day,
to carry them off.
  This  application has  succeeded,  when many
c'ffce  rs Itave tried without the wished for reliet 
           /  PRESCRIPTIONS.          M

                    No. 84.
      77ic cure of Fevers by external application,
 May be attempted by preparing the slippery elm
 bnrk to make a poultice (that is by stripping, scra-
 ping or pounding it in a mortar, and Ihen work-
 ing it to a slimy mass with a little water) this may
 be put into a small  bag prepared for the purpose,
 and laid a little  warm to the belley of the person
 in a fever.  This poultice should be removed, and
 a new  one applied pretty often, for it will soon
 become infected and  loathsome.   This applica-
 tion has  succeeded in obstinate  fevers, when in-
 ternal medicine was apparently useless.

                    No. S3.
 Tks virtue and right  use of the Yellow Springs tr
                chalybeate waters,
 We are persuaded would  be of special service to
 be known.  The following are our ideas :
   Those waters that  are  well  impregnated with
 iron'-mine, possess medical properties of  the most
 healthful and  restorative kind ;  which for  safety
 and efficxcy exceed all other medicine.
   They answer, 1.  To recruit the oxygen in tl>e
 blood (see No. 44 in  the  note)  No. 44 may bt
joined with the use of  this water, perhaps to  a con-
 siderable advantage.
  2.  To strengthen the stomach,  and the systew
 in general ; and to give a good appetite for, and
 digestion of food.  It will sometimes raise a per- 
100
PRESCRIPTIONS.
 •on, when any other means would  be worse than
  none.
    3.  Female weaknesses and rheumatic  com-
 plaints may be frequently relieved by a  moderate,
 but plentiful drinking, and prudent  bathing.
    4.  Consumptive persons may be cured by these
 waters, when ether means would fail.*
    5.  Those families  who live  by,  and  drink this
 kind of water, are  peculiarly healthy (to an indi-
 vidual) in every part of America.
    But observe for the diseased, I.  There should
 be a copious  drinking of the water for  a  consid-
 erable time, perhaps for three or four months to-
 gether ; and drinking will frequently answer all
 purposes, without bathing.
    2.  Bathing should be quickly performed, and
 the body should be covered and got warm as soon
 as possible; once in 24 hours is enough—oftener
 will do more  hurt than good,  especially  if they
 take cold, and that a person bathing is sure to do,
 if not soon got warm.
   3. No person  should take the cold bath when
 heated by walking or work ;  the morning  is gen-
 erally the best time.
   4. It may be noticed as  an invariable maxim,
   * There are sulpher springs in America :  they have
 a yellow spew but smell and taste like gunpowder.
 the drinking of which is noted  for hurrying off con-
 sumptive people.  The warm springs in Bath county,
 Virginia, and those on French  Broad  River  North
garolina, have the same character.          '    ™ 
            PRESCRIPTIONS.          101

 that whoever takes the cold birth, (sick or well)
 and can get  quickly warm,  will be benefitted by

   These waters, if good, are covered with a blue
 scum, where they  stand, and do not run off im-
 mediately ;  and are frequently very cold__they
 cover wood and stones (that thy run over)  with
 a deep yellow paint, like what is commonly call-
 ed copperas color.
   The Yellow Spring, in Green county, Ohio has
 emitted a spew like the above, that has  formed a
 vast heap of paint, like iron rust or Spanish brown:
 and the water is conceived to be  of the first rate
 medical  quality.   Also,  there are many  other
 springs in the state of Ohio of the  like virtue, and
 doubtless in many other places in America.
   Commonly when a  person takes a good potion
 of this water, in a little time (perhaps in half an
 hour) his urine will become as clear as the water
 he drank, and he finds himself cool and lively in
 bis feelings.
   Persons  drink   this water,  not  because they
 are thirsty, but because they will drink  it.
   Though the  taste of this water is disgusting to
some at first, a little use brings it to be altogether
agreeable.   The  quantity to  be drank at  a time,
may vary from half a pint to a quart, as the stom-
ach can receive it ; but some drink two quarts.
 It  should be drank some time before meals,  (say
 half an  hour ,) mostly after a light draught, the 
  Ite         PRESCRIPTIONS.

  stomach throws or gulps up a  little wind ; the
 person then may drink copiously afterwards,  ntn\
 all will lie easy :  but if the wind is not thrown up,
 it causes to vomit.  But a few  trials, and n littio
 use, will make it perfectly agreeable to every one.
   The water is never counted good, when kept
 long from the fountain.
                   No. 8G.
              Vaccine Innoculalion,
 Is now fully established  to be an antidote agnimtf
 the small-pox.
   This was  discovered and introduced about the
 beginning of the present century, (i. e. the 19th)
 by some Doctors in England, who  transmitted it
 to America.
   It has now been practised with,  for about 1?
 years, to  general satisfaction, and  patronised by
 two of the honorable  presidents  of the United
 States of America, Jefferson and  Madison.
   The history, as near as we recollect, is as fol-
 lows :   Certain Milk-Maids in England being in-
 noculated with the small-pox, it was found that
 the  small-pox  could  not  be communicated  to
 them ; and when the  reason  was sought,  it won
 conceived that the said Milk-Maids had taken an
 infection from  the Cow's  bags or teats, on their
 hands, which has brought blisters and sores on
them ; and that in the instances where this had ta-
ken place, the small-pox could not be communi-
cated. 
              PRESCRIPTIONS.          103

    * The cows are sakl to have had such watery
 blisters, terminating in a scab, on their bags and
 teats;  and it was  from these blisters  found upon
 the cows in England, that the vaccine inoculation
 was begun ; and for this reason it  was called the
 Cow-pox or Kine-pox.
    Now the process we would advise:
    1. Take the watery slime, at about the 6th or
 8th day, from the arm of a healthy person who has
 been inoculated, while the blister is still in its clear
 etatc ; for when it  becomes yellow, it will be un-
 certain to give the  infection.
   2. Raise the cutis, or grain of the skin, about
 two inches  above  the knuckle bone of the wrist,
 with a  Ianset or needle, into a little cup, so  deep
 that the water will just rise in it; then introduce a
 small drop of the above, such as you can carry on
 the point of your Ianset or needle into the raised
 cup—and  cover the  inoculated cup, with  a little
 lint  or  clean  cotton,  touched with spittle, or the
 white of an  egg, to  make it stick.
  3.  In a few hours  the lint may be removed
 from the arm ; and if  the infection  has taken,  it
 will show  a little inflamation in 48 liours.   All

  *  Whether  Cows in America have ever such  watery
 blisters and scabs, we are unable to assert:—But we
have heard that a  cow was inoculated  with the small-
pox, and she  had the disease fairly.   Matter was taken
from her and tried (at least on one person) but it wqr
found to be the small-pox still, in all its inveteracy.—
Tkis was done in the State of Ohio. 
   104         PRESCRIPTIONS.

   excesses in eating, drinking and exercise, should
   be avoided,  as the system will be thoroughly af-
   fected ; and frequently the person will experience
   chills  and a slight fever—and  kernels in their
   groins and  under their arms—and you  may ex-
   pect the sore on the arm to be considerable.
     The reason why we would prefer the wrist  to
   tlie upper part of the arm, is because we think it
   a more  favorable place to keep cool, and  wash
   frequently with a rag dipped in cold water, which
   should be carefully attended to, during the first
   stages of the rising of the blister, and inflamation ;
   and if you must have a  sore arm it is better to
•   have it there.
     If you have  to  carry the infection any distance
   or time,  we would advise to carry it on a cotton
   thread, absorded  full of the vaccine  water, dried
   moderately before the fire, and dropped  into a
   phial—This may be cut to pieces, and moistened
   with spittle on a bit of glass or earthen, and  the
   bigness of half a pin's head will do to inoculate a
   person.
     If you wish to preserve the infection for a con-
   siderable time, you may save the first scab, taken
   off'  as soon as the watery state subsides.  Seal it
   in a phial, and it will answer for years to begin this
   inoculation.
     We have to say, in favor of this vaccine inocula-
   tion, that no one ever catches the infection other-
   wise than by being inoculated; and we have heard 
PRESCRIPTIONS.           105
of no one's death being  occasioned by it, young
or old :  but the small-pox inoculation carries off
many.
   If this  inoculation  should be still attended to,
the rising generation will scarce ever see the truly
deplorable and affecting scene of  persons dying,
or torn to pieces with the small-pox, which every
human creature is exposed to, if not secured from
It by vaccine inoculation.
                   No. 87.
             Tincture of Cantharides.
   To prepare-Take half an ounce of cantharides,
(or Spanish flies) pulverise them and put them in
a  bottle with half a pint of spirits, shake them to-
gether a sufficient time, then strain out what you
want for present use, through  a  fine rag, two or
three doubV\
   The particular use of this  medicine is to remove,     j
)a females, that, obstruction  usually occasioned by
catching cold, frequently so fatal to women, (L e.
obstructed menses.)
   We would advise to have this in readiness ; and
after trying No. 27 or No. 44, to recruit the  sys-
tem if possible and  prepare  good blood, for 5 or 6
days then give this tincture.
   Begin by dropping three drops in a little water
 (say a wine glass full) let her drink it,  and repeat
 the doses three times a day, adding one drop mors
 in every  potion, until a stranguary takes  place, 
106          PRESCRIPTIONS.

rn* the wished for flour; then stop and attend 4r>
the remedy for the stranguary, No. 80.
   Then rest from this 4 or  6  days,  and in this
time give one of the chalybeatcs above  mention-
ed ;  then give the tincture again,  beginning with
the number of drops which  you last  gave,  three
times a day, till one or the other  of  the  before-
mentioned  succeeds ; then  stop and proceed as
above directed.   If the end is not  answered  by
•econd effort, try the third ;  but we think,  com-
monly speaking, you need not rise above 15 or 20
drops at a dose.
  This course commonly  speaking, gives no dis-
turbance, and will be found a  safe and easy pro-
cess, and very sure to succeed, if such a thing bo
possible—it being one of the gentle attempts to be
made in the stimulant course, and will frequently
be the cure of fits, approaching consumption &c.
  The flour, once obtained, will commonly  regu-
late itself: at least with the assistance of No. 8;
But in the cases, so critical  and delieate, we ad-
vise that the patient be under the notice of a skill-
ful physician, if such can be had.
                   No  88.
     To prevent or counteract mortification.
  Prepare the following :  Take  brimstone and
alum, equal quantities (say the size of a thimble)
put them both in a scale and balance  them  with
gun-powder ; then pulverise them separately, and
mix them well together.   Take of this mixture, as 
PRESCRIPTIONS.          107
 much as can lie on a quarter of a dollar, make it
 into a potion,  with  vinegar and water (say half a
 gill, for a grown person ;  and in proportion, for a
 child.  Let the patient drink it without  delay.—
 It»i first effect, commonly, is a chilly lit or shiver-
 ing, which is to be esteemed a good symptom  of
 its success.  The like  potion may be  repeated
 daily, till taken three times which  is  commonly
 enough.   It usually will bring  the  patient into a
 good state of perspiration ;  but its peculiar inten-
 tion is to move and loosen all obstructions through
 the system.  The good effect will commonly soon
 appear in the tumor or wound, or affected part of
 trie body, where the  mortification is feared, or may
 be begun ; and will  greatly-assist external appli-
 cations to save life, if it be possible.   For exter-
 nal application, apply No. 7, or No. 44, if conve-
 nient ; but a decoction of dogwood  and sassefraa
 roots, to  wash and poultice with, is very good.
   We have applied this mixture for an obstinate
 cold, as we call it, when the lungs could not be
 relieved by raising or coughing up any thing, and
 we found it to have a speedy and happy effect.
   We was favored with this medicine by Dr. Geo*
 Foulk, a German.
                    No. 89.
       For persons lean a:idpoor in flesh,
 Wo would advise  the  following :   Take a tca-
spoonful  of sugar, and  just whiskey or spirits 
108          PRESCRIPTIONS.

enough to dissolve it  and make  it  swim, (say a
tablespoonfull) infuse them together, and let the
poor person drink it of a morning  and eat some-
thing in about 10 minutes ;  but drink  no spirits
through the 24 hours.
  Try this every morning, for two or three weeks.
This we  conceive  will increase  the quantity of
chyle in the stomach, and recruit the blood, and
nourish  all the exterior of the  body in a special
manner.
  These  ideas we  have formed from what took
place by two of our  acquaintances making use of
the sugar and whiskey as above ,  and from being
very sparts and poor in flesh, as was their common
habit they became very healthy, stout, robust, and
fleshy enough ;  and we think they may be a good
example for others.
                   No.  90.
               The Silver Root
   Is famous, as a poultice,  to  relieve  rheumatic
paiin, when seated in a knee, shoulder, fyc.
   This root  may  be  known by its small  stem,
about  two feet high, strung towards the top with
blue blossoms.   It  grows in marshy places, and
on sandy banks of creeks, where the freshes have
washed.   The roots, when digged or pulled up,
are white as silver,  from whence it has its name—
are small, and grow from their stool in every di-
rection.  They taste aromatic,  but not severe.—
They should be pounded and applied.  We have 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          109

tried this but a few timss.  They succeed beyond
expectation;  and its character is that of an abso-
lute cure.

                   No.  91.

             The Back-ache root,
Grows frequently in dry  prairies and glady  bar-
rens, in the western country and state  of Ohio ;
and we believe it may be cultivated from the seed.
   It is called back-ache root,  from its special use
for that complaint.
   It is also frequently called cholic-root, because it
is a known cure for the cholic.   But its more an-
cient name has been The Devil's Bit.
   The top is a round weed, from two to five feet
high, having no branches at all, but thickly strung
with long scattered leaves.  About one-fourth of
the stalk from the top point,  is covered in the
summer with purple blossoms growing out of the
stalk like the mullen ;  but the stalk is not much
bigger than a pipe stem, and seems  as if it grew
always in a bunch of grass, which grass indeed,
is the leaves of the root.
  The root itself is a lump or knuh of irregular
form,  and various in shape and size :  its taste is
mild,  resembling the taste of allocompain,  or a
pine bud,  or both.
  The  properties  of this root we conceive are
special, being a mild  aromatic, yet a powerful
stimulus, answering generally as an antispasmodic, 
110          PRESCRIPTIONS.
end may be found useful in all the nervous disor-
ders.
   In using the Back-ache root, observe,
   1.  A chew of this root is a quick relief for the
tooth-ache.
   2.  By chewing this root, persons  have been
cured of the cholic and finally of the habit, or re-
turn of it   3.  The Croup  or bold Hives, have
been speedily  cured by drinking  a decoction  of
this root, making the same root into a polticc, and
laying it warm to the pit of the stomach. The
decoction should be given  as liberally  as  possibb
till the child gets relief.
   4.  We have found the decoction of  this root, a
Rpeedy remedy for the head-ache.
   5.  The back-ache has been cured by this root
nnd in one instance, it was taken in bitters, chew
ed, and in decoction, so that a man took as much
as six pounds of the root in nine days,  but had his
back cured, with which he had been a cripple for
some years.
   6.  We have experienced ourselves,  great relief
in a chronic rheumatism, by only taking it iu liquor
m bitters.
   7. From  the foregoing  facts, we are encoura-
ged to think, that a decoction of this root will like-
ly caiase the intermission of a fever, and may per-
haps become a general  cure  for  fevers;  but a
purge, or vomit should be given before it.
   8. It merits a trial in hysteric, and  hypochoa- 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          Ill

driac complaints, and in all cramps,  spasms, epil-
eptic and convulsion fits, and to prevent the re-
turn of the app^plexy, that king of terrors.
  Obseive—That the using of this root has never
been known to issue in indirect debility.  It never
occasions vomiting or purging, nor a flow of urine,
eweat, or saliva; nor does it occasion sleep or stu-
por, like opium ; but the patient sits  easy as to all
these, tho' using this pungent root most liberally.
   If these ideas should be justified, when put to a
sufficient farther proof, this root must be placed in
the first rank of simples, of all the materia medica ;
and we should not hesitate to  conclude the entiro
propriety of these remarks, was it not that we re-
member to have heard, fifty years ago, that it was
a root  of excellent virtues ; and we may  wonder
why those virtues have not  brought  it into U9e,
more generally ere  now.  But why  should we
wonder when so small a portion  of the riches  of
the field of nature is yet discovered 1
                    No. 92.
            Indian mode of Sioeating.
   This sweat is performed in almost every disease
that they are liable to; and we give it as our opin-
ion, that it  is of the greatest importance of any
thing that  can be done in the first  stages Of any
disease.  It is of great importance in many cases
which are  considered by  the medical faculty as
desperate; and it would be so  under our  mod*
of treatment, if it were not for the manner of ap- 
112         PRESCRIPTIONS.
plying heat to the body, for the purpose of rc-anl-
mating the system, and aiding nature in restoring
health/   We had  but  little  knowledge in  their
modes of practice when we first went  among
them ; but being with them seven years, and  in
constant practice, and having a desire to inciease
in knowledge for the benefit of man.   We found
   •                      •              •    t
their great object in sweating  was  to  raise the
heat, in all cases where the heat of the body is so
far exhausted as not to be rekindled  by using tho
medicine ; and being shielded from the surround-
ing air by a blanket, and chills and stupor attend-
ing the patient then they apply heat by steaming.
It  becomes  indispensably necessary,  and heat
caused by steaming in the manner they use it, is
more natural in promoting perspiration, than any
dry heat there can be applied to  the body in any
other manner, will only serve to  dry the air, and
prevent  perspiration.  Diseases  where a  stearnly
water or vinegar would promote  it, and add a nat-
ural warmth to the body, and thereby the life and
motion which lay silent,  in  consequence of tha
cold, they have  various ways of performing their
steam operations ; some  by pouring  nebish in a
gemong ; that is to  say, pour water in a canoe,
and laying a few sticks across it spreading hem-
lock  boughs  upon them,  bending boughs ovei
the top of them,  and spreading a muha-cota over
them, that is to say, a  blanket,  to shield them
from the surrounding air, and heating small stones
 and putting them into the  water to raise a steam. 
            PRESCRIPTIONS.           } 13

 Others dig a hole in the ground and  put in wa-
 ter and hot stones, and surrounded as before men-
 tioned,  so as to raise a steam.  To bring on  a
 free perspiration, they make a tea of some kind of
 bitter warming herbs, such as smart weed,  pene-
 royal, peppermint ; and then if they deem it ne-
 cessary whilst sweating, to give a meskena, or a
 vomit,  they make  use of nishunoba shanaw, or
 the Indian tobacco, or the lobelia influtu.
   The mode adopted by us since we left  them,
 and which has always answered the desired ob-
 ject, has been as follows : Take several stcmes of
 different sizes, and heat them red hot; then take
 the smallest of them first ; put them in a kettle of       '
 water, with the stones half emersed ; the patient       ij
 may be undressed,  or his coat  taken off, and  a
 blanket put around him so as to shield  his body
 from the surrounding air, and then place him over
 the steam : change the stones often as they grow
 cold, so as to keep up a lively steam,  and keep
 them over it : if the patient is faint,  pour a little
 water on the face and stomach,  which will pre-
 vent faintness and  restore their strength.  After
 they have been over  the  steam long  enough,
 which will be about 15 or 20 minutes, they must
 be washed all over with  spirits or vinegar,  they
 must be put into bed, and bring on another mod-      jJ
 erate perspiration,  then  the  patient may remain
in bed, or be drest, as the nature of the case may
require.  Before they are placed over the  stea:n
                     8 
 114          PRESCRIPTIONS.

 give of the Indian tea,  lobelia, till the  stomach b
 thoroughly cleansed, always mixing this herb with
 other hot  notured herb tea ;  such  as smart-
 weed, peppermint, peneroyal, may-weed, or some
 other kind of  herb tea, remembering never to
 scald the  Indian tobacco,  if  you do  it will not
 puke ; and if there should be any difficulty in not
 puking, dissolve a small piece  of pearlash in some
 warm water, and give till they puke freely :  give
 at  first about a teaspoonful  of  Indian tobacco
 leaves or seeds powdered fine, at once,  and so  on
 till  they puke once in  15 or 20 minutes,  keeping
 them in a moist sweat, and not suffering the pores
 to close when the patient is too weak to stand  or
 set over the steam : it may be done in a bed  by
 heating a number of stones and putting them in
 water till done hissing, then wrap them  in a num-
 ber of thicknesses of cloths wet with vinegar or
 water, then put one in the bed at each side and
 one at the feet, occasionally wetting the face and
 stomach with vinegar or water, when faint.
  Many other plans may be contrived in steam-
 ing, which would make less  trouble, and be more
 agreeable  to the patient, especially when unable
 to stand over the steam.   An open work  chair
 may be made wherein they may sit and be steam-
ed very comfortably ; or a settee  might be made
in the same manner, in which  they  may be laid
and covered  with one  or more blankets, so as to
shield them from the surrounding air.   Such con* 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          115

 trivancesas these would be very convenient, in ca-
 ses where the patient would have to be  carried
 through a course of medicine, and steamed a num-
 ber of times, as is frequently necessary, particular-
 ly in complaints that have been long standing.—
 The use of  steaming is good to prevent  sickness
 as well as curing it.  When a  patient  has been
 exposed  to a cold and is threatened with a disease
 it may be prevented ; and long  sickness and ex-
 pense saved  by a very little trouble,  by being
 steamed and following directions before  given, till
 the cold  is thoroughly  thrown   off, and a lively
 perspiration takes place ; then go to bed, take the
 stones from  the kettle, wrap them in wet  cloths
 and put  them to the feet.   This may be done
 without the medicine when it cannot be  had ; the
 same time make a tea of may-weed and summer-      '
 savery,  sweetened, may  be given, or any other
 thing that is warming—this will frequently prevsnt
 a long fit of  sifckness.
  Suspended animation,such as drowned persons,
 in such cases  place the  body  over a  moderate      I
 steam, shielded by a blanket from the  weight cf
 the external  air, and rarify  the air immediately
 around  them  with  the steam.    Pour  into  tlm
 mouth some of the  tea made of the prickly-ash
 berries, sweetened and  mixed with brandy ;  and
if there is any life remaining, there will be  mus-
cular motion  about the eyes, and in the extrem-
ities.  If these symptoms appear,  repeat the  do-
_ 
110          PRESCRIPTIONS.

ses several times,  and renew the hot stones and
raise the steam by degrees.   If the steam is  rais-
ed too sudden it will overpower the inward heat,
and you will fail of the desired  object  This ti
the only danger of any difficulty  taking place.—
Always bear in mind to give  warming  medicine,
such as  prickly-ash berries, so as to keep the foun-
tain above the steam.   After life is restored, put
them in bed, and keep the pores open for  twelve
hours;  tie hot  stones wrapt in  cloths  wet  with
Gold  water, and occasionally give them the tincture
as before mentioned.   When the coldness and ob-
struction are thrown off, and the  patient comes
to his natural  strength, beware of bleeding, as
this will generally prove fatal.
   In many cases  of spotted  fever, sweating by
steaming is as necessary as in drowned persons.
Such as fall apparently dead,  the same treatment
is necessary to lighten the surrounding  air till pro-
per medicine can be given ; such as the  tincture
of prickly-ash ;  begin with a small stone, and in-
crease the heat as the patient can bear if.   If the
distress is great, give more of the  tincture ;  and
as soon as an  equilbrium takes place, the pain
will cease.   In all cases of this  kind the difficulty
cannot  be removed without applying steam to the
body, and heat is more naturally applied that way
than any other.   Means that can be made use of
in cases of long standing, where the patient  has
been run down with pernicious medicine,  and left 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.           117
 fa a cold and obstructed state,  liable to the rheu-
 matic and other chronic complaints, they  can no
 be  easily cured with  medicine  without applytor
 •team, as nothing  will remove mercury as  ea«f
 as the steam  bath, as when a  patient is  carrieff
 trough a course of our  medicine and steemed,
 who has been long under mercurial treatment and
 whilst under the operation of the hot bath, when
 the steam is at the highest, the face will  swell,  in
 consequence ofthe poisonous vapour being  con-
 densed by the air ;  the face being open to  it.~
 lo relieve  them  of this, put the patient in  bed,
 and take  a hot stone wet with  cloths, and put to
 be feet ;  pour on  a little vinegar and make a  live-
 LtTi£d?uVerthe  headw*h cloths, and let
 them breathe the steam as hot as they can bear it
 until the  sweat covers the swelled parts; this wM
 In  about  15 or 20 minutes throw out the  poS
 and the swelling will abate.   This method is  Z
 ofgreat service m agues and tooth  ache caused by
 eolds, and many other cases of obstructions from
 cTntVJT cause'esPecia»y young children, stuffed
 Zl)I ?ft\ T°-St?am y^ng children, the  best
 .r L1  -ll thu,m f in the ,aP of the »«»«e ; cov-
 •rboth with a blanket and sit over the steam/pour-
 tog a little vinegar on the hot stone, or it may be
wealth   u wlt,hahot.st™e wrapped in  cloth.
wet with cold wa er, putting on a little vinegar  and
covering them with the bed clothes, laid looseW
over them ; but in this way you cant use so good
Hf meat in tempering the steam as when yoH£ 
118          PRESCRIPTIONS.

steamed with them yourself.   If the child  appears
languid and faint,the outward heat is high enough.
Put a  little  cold vinegar  on the  face or breatf,
which  will restore the strength.  Then rub them
with a cloth with vinegar or whiskey; put on
oleen clothes and put them in bed, or let them sit
up as their strength will require.   This is safe  in
adl  cases of bad colds and  obstructed perspira-
tions.  It ought to be borne in mind to often givo
a child drink when sweating.   When  this  is not
<!ojie they might suffer, as they cannot ask for it
  In all case3 of falls or  bruises, steaming  is the
best thing you can do, and is  far better than to
bleed,  as is the common practice, which only tend9
to destroy life,  instead of promoting it.   If the
patient is not able to sit over the steam, it  must be
done in the  bed, as before described.  Give hot
herb drink and keep the perspiration free, till the
pain and  soreness abates, and the  strength will
soon return.  If the advantage of this  mode of
treatment was generally known, bleeding in  such
cases,  or any other to remove disease, would nev-
w- he  resorted to by the wise and prudent

                   No.  93.
                  Man-Root.
  The Indian name of this root  is nisha-noby-
munick.  This valuable and remarkable root is to
be found growing in meadows, pastures, old  fields,
and many other places on dry sandy ground most 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          119
 generally, although I have found it on clay land,
 but there it does not grow large.  This root is ve-
 ry easily known by its top ;  it differs from all
 others that grow. The top will run on the ground
 or fence,  bushes and  staddles.   It is about the
 size of a wheat straw,  red on the upper side,  and
 green on the under side ; two  of the vines  will
 eften come from one root and  many branches
 will make  from the vine the distance of one or
 two feet apart  and other branches will shoot out
 from them till the whole earth will be covered with
 them for two or more  rods  each  way from  the
 main root.  If it is on rich ground and not distur-
 bed, it will grow so thick that a person can hard-
 ly get through them— the vine is very tough,  and
 principally covered with leaves.  The leaf in  siae
 and shape, is similar to that  of the hop,  but very
 nmooth and glistening ; and  where the leaf sits out
 from the vine, there sits out a blossom in the shape
 of a funnel, from two to three inches.  Across the
 mouth of them the blows are generally white.*—
 There are various shapes and siges of the roots.
 They me from 20 to 30  inches beneath  the su»-
 face of the earth, before you come to the head of
 the root.  Those roots  have been.found  five feet
 three inches long, and weighed 247 pounds and a
 half, and are frequently found in the perfect shape
of a man.  We was once  digging one  of them
 ourselves, and  found one in  the perfect shape of
a turkey, even to three toes on each foot, and  are
often found in the ehape of a  child, or a snake,and 
IfO         PRESCRIPTIONS.
many other things. The vine always grows out
of the head of the root.  It ought  to be  dug in
the Spring or Fall of the year, and cut into slices
and laid in the sun to dry, then pound or ground,
or grated, till made fine fit for use.  The root is of
a light  brown color.   More might be said  about
this root, but we think enough has been said,  to
shew the situation of its growth, so that people can
find it without trouble.  We shall.now endeavor
to shew the medical virtues of the above  named.
root  This article appears to be a new discovery
h\ medicine, entirely unknown to the medical fnc-.
nlty, as no mention has been made of it by any au-
thor, or how it was first  discovered, and how and
when it grew.   We will now shew  the  way and
manner it was first found out.   This great  discov.
e*ry was revealed to a  man in a dream who lay  at
die point of death with the consumption  as  all
supposed, as all expected every hour he  would
breathe his last;  but the all-wise God who made
all things, and made nothing in vain, as he brought
upon  Adam a deep sleep, so  he also brought a
sleep upon this man,  and  caused  that h^ should
dream of this great and valuable root,  that he,
together with  all  the sons and  daughters of Ad-
am's  race, might be benefitted thereby ; and  he
dreamed where  it grew and how  it was to  bo
used, and he  got and used of it according to thq
directions he had received in his dream,  and in a
tew days  it restored him to  a perfect  state  of
health.  Others being afflicted  withthesamo m&U 
            PRESCRIPTIONS,           Hi
adieSj tried the same preparations* and it had the
same effect Oil  them.   After many trials and
proofs of this efficacious medicine, it was found to
be so valuable  a root, not only in that disease, but
in almost every other complaint.   This root has
been found to be so valuable an article it has sold
for $175 a pound in some of the states.  When
first discovered it was said to be very scarce, and
only to be found  in one part of the world : but
this is a great  mistake.   We have been in 14 or
15 of the states, beside the Upper and Lower Can-
adas,  and in a number of the territories, and to
the northwest amongst the natives, and was never
in any state or place to our knowledge,  but there
was plenty of it to be found.   It was a great spec-
ulation with  some, and would not let it be known
it was plenty.  But we conceive it to be our indis*
pensable duty to let this,  with a vast  many othc*
Iccret medicines, be known to  the  benefit of our
fellow creatures.   We  have dug,  prepared,  and
made use of a great quantity of this  valuable med»
ical root, and  we can safely say, for three yeais
past,  we have  not lost a patient that we have ad-
ministered it to, and that we have given it to more
than one hundred people within that time, and we
have found it to be agreeable to every complain*
incident  to  our country.  It is of great  value in
female weakness ; it will not hurt or injure them
in any situation of life.  The right  mode of using
this medicine is to take  a table spoonful once in
fi^ur hours  after being made into a tea  with  nail£ 
1**         PRESCRIPTIONS.
  and water.   To prepare this medicine fit for use,
  put a table spoonful of the powders in some vessel
  and add a gill of  rain water, and let it  stand on
  coals of fire  till half evaporated away, and then
  add half a gill of new milk, and mix it together fit
  for use.   This should be used in all kinds of sir-
  ups and strengthening medicine.   You may add
  as much of this root to any other kind of roots or
  bnrks, or herbs, to the sirups you make, or take it
  alone as above mentioned.

                    No.  94.
  A recipe to cure the Canker  in  the Stomach and
                     Bowels.
   Under this head, we shall describe such vegita-
 ble  productions as are good to cure the canker, in
 which we  have found good to remove the thrush
 from the throat, stomach  and bowels, caused by
 a cold, as there will be more or less of it in all ca-
 ses of disease ; for when cold gets the power over
 the inward heat #he stomach and bowels become
 cloged with canker, which prevents those  numer-
 ous  little vessels, calculated to nourish the  system
 from performing their duty ; a cure  therefore
 cannot be effected without removing those difficul-
 ties,  which  must be done by such  things as  are
 best  calculated to take off the canker, and leave
 the juices flowing free.   There are many  articles
which are good for  this complaint ; but we shall
mention such only,  that we have found to  be the 
             PRESCRIPTIONS,          123
beet.   Several things that are used for canker,
are too binding, and do more harm than good, as
they cause  obstructions.   We  have adopted  a
rule to ascertain what is forcankei, which I have
found very useful, and shall give it for a guide to
others, that  is to show some of the articles,  and if
they cause the  salivia to  flow freely  and leaves
the mouth moist and clean, it is good ;  but on the
other hand,  if it dries up the juices and leaves the
mouth raw  and  dry, it is bad, and ought to be
avoided.
                   No.  95.
         Composition powder for Canker.
  Cankerweed, dwarf sweet rush, shumake bark,
loaves or beiries, goldthread, rasberry leaves, white
pond  lilly  root, hemlock.   A strong tea made of
the above when  used, we never  knew to  fail to
cure the canker,  when all other medicine failed,
if made use of when green, take an equal quanti-
ty of each kind, and put them in a tea or coffee
pot and pour hot water on them and  steep them
as you would tea or coffee, and sweeten with hon-
ey or  loaf sugar, when cool take a spoonful of the
composition, once in an hour, for a grown person
until a cure be perfected, if there is canker in the
mouth, wash with the same tea, when  the above
named articles are dryed  and pulverised fine, put
a tablespoonful of  it in some kind of a vessel and
a teacupful of boiling water, when cool to be taken
as before  mentioned, if you cannot  procure all
those  articles, make use  of the lilly root above 
iU         PRESCRIPTIONS.
named, or the canker weed, or hemlock bark, ot
both of them together,  or  the  dwarf sweet rush
alone, will answer every purpose.   Dwarf sweet
rush in giving a description of this valuable rush,
for it is the most important article to cure diseases,
especially fevers and cankers, and  any kind of fe-
vers whatever it may be used, and is of great uso
to cure sores, when they are of a  scorfulous na-
ture ;  this we claim  as our  own  discovery, and
never knew any of it to be made  use of by  any
person till we made of it ourselves.   It was in the
itate of New-York and county  of Jefferson,  wa
was called to visit a patient  that  three  Doctors
had attended and had given him over to die with
the canker and typhus fever; and we made use of
Oiis rush and cured  him in a few days; and since
that time we have used it in  many other diseases,
end have found it to be of great utility.   It may
be used with safety in almost eveiy complaint—
This rush grows on black land ; such as pine, hem-
Jock and spruce.  It grows about six  inches high,
aud is at out thesiae of a common knitting needle,
rough, and has joints similar  to the scouring ru9h%
It is very scarce in many parts of  the States,  but
plenty at the northwest with  the natives,  and also
fri the Canadas.  We have seen the time we would
have paid $25 a pound for it, but could not get it
for love or money, or any thing else.
                   No. 96.
             White Pond-lUly Root.
   This root is of great  use for  taking inflama&m 
            PRESCRIPTIONS.          ISA

out of the eyes.  When used, it ought to be bruis-
ed and wet with new milk—breast milk would be
the best—and  laid over the eyes and changed ns
often as it gets dry.  It is also good to take out the
inflamation  of any sore or swelling.  Pound jt fine
and mix corn meal with  it, and wet it with empt-
ings or new milk, and apply it when cold—and
when taken off and changed,  wash the  wound
with soap suds or white lye, and so continue till
salve is needed, which we intend to describe how
to make.   This root is well known from the beau-
tiful blossom which it bears, opening only to the
sun and closing again at night.   It grows only in
fresh water ponds, and is common in many parts
where  we have been.   The best time to gather  it
is in autumn,  when the water is low and warm,
as it may then be obtained with little trouble.—It
has large roots which should be dug and washed
clean,  and  split into strips, and dried.   When per-
fectly  dry  it should be pounded fine in a mortar
and preserved for use.

                   No. 97.
                Hemlock  Bark.
   This is the common hemlock, and grows in al-
most all the states more  or less plenty.   The best
for medicine  is to peel it from  the young tree,
shave  off the ross, and save only the inner side—
dry it with care and grind or pound it to a powder.
It is the best thing for a bleeding at the stomach  or 
 12G          PRESCRIPTIONS.

 lungs of any thing we have ever found, either by
 giving a tea made of it, with wb|ph hazle leaves,
 or  mix the  powdered bark with white rosin and
 honey, equal parts; take a teaspoonful of the com-
 position at a time, 4 times in a day till cured, as it
 will be  in a few days,  and sometimes in a fuw
 hours.
                  No.  98.
                 Canker-weed.
  This weed is by some called wild lettuce, or In-
 dian sallad.   It grows on mountainous land and
 on pine plains, where the box  berry  or checker
 berry are found.   It is an ever-green ; there are
 two kinds of it, the male and female.   They are
 both good for medicine ; the male has a leaf about
 the bignes3 of a dollar and almost as round ; they
 are smooth  and glistening, sometimes four or five
 springing from one root, and frequently lie flat up-
 on the ground, and a stalk makes out of the cen-
 ter of them, and grows  from six to eight  inches
 high, and about the top a quantity  of white blos-
 soms.   The female has a smaller and longer leaf,
 and more of them which grow along up the stalk,
 nnd has a blossom  similar to the male.  Either of
 those may be used  as a  tea in any complaint, es-
pecially in fever complaints, coughs and consurop-
tire complaints ; sweating nights, and in all ca-
ses where there is any canker, either in the mouth,
throat or bowels, and can with  safety be  used in
an injection.  It makes a good wash for old sores. 
PRESCRIPTIONS.         re«
 We have made  constant use of it  in our  family
 for tea, and had rather have it than the imported
 tea.  It is a  preventative against fevers, rheuma-
 tism and cankers.
                    No. 99.
                 Golden Root.
   This root grows on sandy, strong  loomy land,
 and is about  the first herb  that puts forth in the
 spring of the year.   It comes from the seed every
 year, and grows from three to five feet  high, with
 some small branches sitting out near  the top, and
 many white blossoms, it has a very  large leaf.—
 There are two  kinds of this herb, the male and
 female.   The leaves of the male are in the  shape
 ofa  heart; the leaves of the female have a large
 scollup on each edge, and when the  stalk, leaf or
 root is broken, the milk will run out and taste very
 bitter.  The root is very yellow and in the shape
 of a parsnip, with some small fibres attached to it
 It is the  bitterest root that grows in nature's gar-
 den.  They may be used  when green : but  to
 lay up for use, they  ought to be dug  in the fall of
 the year, after the leaves are dead.  They  must
 be washed clean, split open and dried in the sun,
 and then ground or  pounded to a powder.  This
 is the Indian mode of curing the camp distemper,
 dyssentary or flux,take a table spoonful of this pul-
 verised root & a tea eup full of new milk & another
 of water ; mix them together and simmer them to
one tea cup full;—this i* the quantity for a grown 
128         PRESCRIPTIONS.
 person to use in four  hours, dividing as the ctitt
 may be, and so continue till cured, which will fre-
 quently be in  24  hours.   An  injection  may be
 made of the same, and used frequently.   It is of
 the utmost importance to keep the pores open till
 a cure is perfected.   It is also of great  value in
 liver complaints ;  the root  may be  chewed and
 used as tobacco only, remembering to  swallow
 the juice, or  use it for common tea  sweetened
 with molasses or honey.
                   No. 100.
                Red  Cedar Oil.
   To get the oil out of cedar, the wood must be
 split fine and  put in a hot oven, and be  dried till
 the sap is all  dried out of it, then the wood must
 be set up in a pot like a coal pit, and  drove in
 round the edge tight ;  then put on the top of the
 pot a tin or earthen pan with a hole in the center,
 and plaster it all around  tight ; dig  a hole in the
 ground large  enough to hold the pot, then set  a
 cup in the bottom of the  hole, then  turn the pot
 bottom upwards  over  the cup, and  fill in dirt all
 around the pot, only leave the bottom bare, then
 build a fire on the bottom of the pot ; be careful
not to build a fire so hot as to burn up the wood in
the pot, or burn the wood to a coal, if you do you
will get no oil ; keep a moderate fire  for one hour,
then dig away the dirt and take out the cup of
oil and put  it in bottles corked tight  fit for use.__
The efficacies of this oil is very great.  It is the 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.         129

best medicine for the bleeding or behind piles that
can be produced, or  female weakness.  In any
situation of life take a tea spoonful three times in a
day, and onoint the parts affected with the same.
It is not uncommon to cure in two or three days ;
if a cure is not effected in that time, make a strong
tea of witch hazel and raspberry leaves,and add
a tablespoonful of this oil, and make use of it for an
injection.  This  we never fail to cure, even those
who had been afflicted  for years.   We do give it
as our opinion that this  oil has the  most  medical
virtues of any thing of  the oil kind that we have
ever used in our practice.   It will cure colds and
prevent taking  colds.   We have not  taken any
cold in 20 years since we first began to use of this
oil, neither have we feared taking cold  while using
of this oil  now and then  a little. —It is good for
coughs and consumptive persons, dropsies, gravel
and gout, and of great use in ceattick or rheumat-
ic complaints, or for sores,  bruises and weeping
6inews and sprains.  It may be used internally as
well as externally for pain in the breast, head,  or
any other part to great advantage if properly ap-
plied.
                   No. 101.
                Ametick Herbs.
  Blue and  white Yervines  and Indian tobacco.
Those three kinds of ametick herbs are used by
the natives.   The qualifications of them are very
singular.  We have found them nearly in all pla-
                      9 
130         PRESCRIPTIONS.

ces where we have  travelled ;  they are  to be
found in old pastures and by the side of old roads,
and sometimes in dry meadows.  Those herbs
grow from twelve to twenty inches high.  The In-
dian tobacco has many  branches  setting  out of
the stalk almost all the  way from the root to the
top, and has a long peaked leaf with notches on
the edges, and grow from the size of a six pence
to that of a 25 cent piece, and has many  blue
blossoms on the branches ; when ripe has a small
pod, and the seed they contain are similar to to-
bacco seed.   It ought to be  gathered when the
leaves begin to turn a little  yellow, and dried out
of the sun shine on a sheet, then  strip  off the
leaves and  pods and seeds, and make them all
fine, and sift them through a fine sive fit for use.
A common tea spoonful  for a dose, to be given to
a grown person at once in honey or molassep.or in
pills.   You had better begin with a fourth part of
a teaspoonful, as it has different  operations on the
human system.   The vervines are  of the  same
nature, and have to be  used in the same wav,
enly in larger doses.
                   No. 102.
                Thorough Wirt.
   This herb grows from two to three feet high,
and has two leaves growing together one on each
side of the stalk, with a large bushy top and white
blossoms.   It generally grows on wetish land.—
This weed ought to be gathered  when the seed is 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.         131

in the milk—then dried fit for use.   When it b«-
comes necessary to cleanse the stomach, make a
strong tea of it and take a tea cup full of it once
in ten or fifteen minutes.   It is of a warming na-
ture, ana! is good for canker and many other com-
plaints ; it is also good for to put into beer in the
spring of the year, and will physic the  blood, a?
all we take into the stomach is calculated to aV>
good or harm.  This herb gathered at the above
named time is better than any other time. As We
have tried all times in gathering  medicine  and
find there is a right and a wrong time.
                   No. 103.
             Adam and Eve Rod.
  This  is to be found  in  almost all  parts o£ the
world, and  grows on moist land, and varies great-
ly from  all other roots.  It has one leaf and grows
6 inches high, and one  in breadth, and is full of
ridges.   It grows in the winter.   It may be found
by the leaf till the middle of May or first of June.
It has a small stem, the leaf runs into the ground
before it comes to the  main root about an inch or
two, and then there is a round  root about the size
of a hickory nut with the shuck oft';  and then  a
small fibre  makes out of that and running about
two or three inches, and then there will be another
round root about the  size of the other.  These
roots are of a salvy nature, and are good to make
a syrup of, or to make a  salve of with other ma-
terial*,  or a consalve by bruie;nj them  by them- 
 188         PRESCRIPTIONS.

 selves, and adding loaf sugar.  This  consalve is
 good for sprains or weak joints,  a calice,  or a
 cough that is of a consumptive nature, or a pain
 in the breast, and are very strengthening for any
 inwerd or outward weakness.  There may  be a
 6irup made  of  these,  cumphrey,  man-of-the-
 ground, burdoc,  hoarhound and  thorough-wirt;
 when boiled strong, add as much brandy as there
 is of sirup,  sweeten it with loaf sugar, and bot-
 tle it for use.  Take a  wine glass full of it three
 times a day just before eating.

                  No.  104.
              While Ash Bark.
  This tree is so well hnown that it needs no des-
 cription, only that it  is  the common white ash
 bark.  We make a dose of it for the bite of a rat-
 tle snake.   Get the bark of the  root and  pound
it fine ; put it into a kettle and boil it down strong;
 when cool, drink a wine glass of the  decoction,
 and bind the bark on the wound,  keeping it wet
 with liquor, and change it once in five or six  min-
 utes until the swelling goes down.  Then clean
the stomach with thorough-wirt tea or Indian to-
bacco till puked enough  ; then wash the parts af-
 fected with the same.  When  first bit  peel off
some butternut bark and apply it  around the
limb above the wound, to prevent the poison go-
ing to the stomach, as it will draw a blister and
take out the  poison.   The Indian tobacco will do 
l'KHifcJUKlf 11UNS.
133
if you cannot obtain the other, to be used as the
ash bark before mentioned.   I never knew this to
fail curing.
                  No. 105.
             Red Raspberry Leaves
Are an excellent medicine,  which have been long
used by the natives, and are good for cankers and
many other complaints, such as a  relax  in chil-
dren   When made into  a  tea, it will  frequently
cure after taking it once  or twice.   It will  an-
swer the same purpose in old people as in children,
as all relaxes are caused by canker.
                   No.  106.
                Rheumatic Drops.
   Take one gallon  of any kind of high  wines,
 and two pounds of sweet flag after dried and pul-
 verised, and  a half pound mustard  seed after
 ground, and four ounces of red pepper ; put them
 all into a stone jug and  put the jug into  a pot ot
 water and boil them  one hour with the jug. stop-
 ped ;  then let it stand till  cool; then it  must be
 strained through two thicknesses  of flannel, and
 bottled up for use.  These drops may be used to
 cuTe all kinds of rheumatic complaints, by taking
 15 or twenty drops at a time, or more, as the case
 may be, three or  four times a day  in  water or
 whiskey, and bathing the  parts affected  with  he
 same, only add some cedar oil to  that you bathe
 with ; and bid defiance to  the rheumatism, tor we 
 134        PRESCRIPTIONS.

have tried it more than  twenty years and never
found it to fail  when rightly  applied.  You may
use the drops without the oil: 'it may cure and it
may not
                  No. 107.
            Indian Fever Powders.
  These powders are composed of various kinds
galls, viz, catfish, sturgeon, raccoon, rabbit, skunk,
and musk  rat.   All kinds of galls that are taken
must be mixed with chalk or flour, as thick as
dough, and laid in sunshine till  dry,  then pound
it fine for use.  These powders are made  use
<>f by the natives, in all fevers.   The rattle snake,
cat  fish, rabbit, skunk and musk rat are the beat.
To  a spoonful of the powders add 12 spoonsful
of hot water;  when cool  enough to take, stir it
up and take a  spoonful once an hour.   There is
no danger in taking these powders ; and great
cures  have been effected thereby.
                  No. 108.
              Wild Indigo Weed.
  This weed is to be found in many parts of  thr
States and in the Provinces.   It is so well known
that I shall give but a very small description of it.
It generally grows on sandy land, the  root lives
through the winter, and a new stalk comes up in
the  spring.   The stalk grows about two  and a
half feet high,  of a pale blue  color,  has many
branches at the top,  a very small leaf, and many 
PRESCRIPTIONS.          135
blossoms.   This weed is of great use in allaying
inffamation and taking down swellings; it may be
bruised and made into a  poultice with corn meal,
or it may be boiled and laid on the parts affected.
                   No. 109.
            Indian cure for Cancers.
   Take a hollow stick or some other machine,
with the hollow a little larger than the sore, put it
on the sore, & pour in boiling hot water and  keep
it  on  the  space  of ten  minutes,  bearing down
hard  on the tube to prevent the water from gush-
 ing out and scalding  any other part;  then turn
 the patient over  till the water runs out, then take
off the tube and apply the ointment till cured.
                   No. 110.
            German Cancer Plaster.
   Take wild indigo weed roots, wash them clean,
put them in a kettle of water and boil the strength
out ;  take out the  roots and  strain the  liquor:
then simmer it down over a slow fire till it be-
comes as thick as tar; then make a plaster of it
and lay it on the cancer,  renewing  the plaster
once  in 12 hours.  Keep the air from the sore as
much as possible when drest   These plasters will
frequently take out a cancer in one week ; when
the cancer is out apply some kind of healing salve.
It will be necessary to physic or cleanse the blood
take  culver root, and avoid drinking any spirit-
ou3 liquor or cider,  or eating salt provisions.— 
 136         PRESCRIPTIONS.

 This has been kept hid from the world for a long
 term of time.  We do not know of but three per-
 sons in the world who know how to  make the
 above named cancer plasters. We think it our duty
 at this time to reveal it, with the hope that it  will
 be to the great benefit of those  who  are afflicted
 with this mortal disease,  and are dying daily with
 the same.
                  No.  111.
          Bayberry, or  Candle Berry.
  This is a species of the myrtle from which wax
is obtained from the  berries, and grows common
 in many parts of the world.  It  is a  shrub that
grows from two to eight  feet high, is easily known
by the berries which it produces annually, contain-
ing wax in abundance ;  these grow on the bran-
 ches close to them,  similar to the juniper; the
 leaves are of a deep  green : the bark of the root.
 which is used for medicine, and should be collect-
 ed in the spring before it puts forth its  leaves, or
in autumn after it has done growing, as the sap is
 then in the roots ; but those things that  tlie tops
 are used should be collected in the summer, when
 nearly full grown, as then the sap is in  the  stalk
 and leaves.  The  root should be dug and washed
clean from the dirt.   The best way to get the bark
is to pound the root until it cleaves off.  It should
 be dried in a chamber, where it is not exposed to
 the weather ; and  when perfectly dry it should be
 ground fine.   It is an excellent medicine  when 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          137

taken alone, it is a highly stimulating and pungent,
pricking the glands and causing the salivia  and
other juices to flow freely.   It may be safely used
in all bowel complaints.
                   No. 112.
                    Hops.
   Fill a glass bottle with hops, poplar and wild
cherry bark, equal quantity each in heft, then add
whiskey or any other spirits until you get a strong
do3e, and take of this as much as you can bear 6
times in a day, just before eating,  tocure the jaun-
dice.
                   No. 113.
                 Snake Weed.
  This  weed grows in wet flowing lands and be
side  of brooks.   The name was given it because
the blossom so much resembles a snake head.—
It is about the size of mint,  only the leaves are
some larger.   The stem is foursquare ; the leaves
of a dark green and a sweetish bitter taste.  It bears
a white  blossom of a singular form resembling a
snake's  head with  the mouth open.  This  herb
is verry  good to correct the boil and create an ap-
petite.   A tea may be used of it in all fevers, or
it may be made into a syrup for  weakly persons,
with the man-root, and is very good  for the asth-
ma.
                   No. 114.
        Common bitters to preserve health.
  Take culver root, unicorn root,  golden seal root 
138          PRESCRIPTIONS.

cucumber root, black cherry, the inner bqrk, and
upland poplar, equal quantities of each pulvsrised
fine.  It may be used in any sort of spirits or ci-
der.   These bitters ought to be taken a few mo-
ments before eating.
                   No. 115.
                Poplar Bark.
  There are several spieces of poplar that grow
in this  country,  and are good  for medicine.—
One is called wild poplar and  the other the stink-
ing poplar.   The bark of both are good for medi-
cine ; but the latter is the best, being the most bit-
ter ;  it has tags hanging on the  limbs which re-
mains on till it leaves out, which is some days la-
ter than the  other kind ; it  has short  bitter twigi
which are extremely bitter to  the taste.   The in-
ner bark given in tea is one  of the best articles to
regulate  the  boil and digestive  powers, of  any
thing we have ever used.  It may be taken from
the body of the tree or root, and  the ross shaved
off and preserve  the inner coat.   It should  be dri-
ed and made fine:  It is good for bitters, and may
be. taken in spirits  or steaped in hot  water  and
made a tea of and  drank freely.   It is also good
to operate in the urinary system,  and  is good for
the canker and many other  complaints.
                    No. 116.
                   Cohush.
  There are five kind3 of weeds which the  Indi-
ans call Cohush, and use them  all for medicins 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          139

when they can obtain them ;  but  the  medical
qualities of three of them are very similar to each
other, the red, blue and white.   The  other two
kinds are also similar  to  each  other,  but  diflW
greatly  from the other.   One  of  these two w
known in many places by the name of frost weed,
or medow scabish.  It is a wild weed and  grow*
in wet land, by the side of small streams.  It has
a rough stalk that grows four or five feet high, a
narrow leaf a blue blossom, which  remains late
in the fall till the frost cuts it off.  The root, lives
through the winter and in the spring puts forth  a
new stalk.   The  leaves at  the  bottom remain
growing through the winter,  and the  roots and
tops are used for medicine, and is good for canker.
It has a fragrant taste and smell like  lovenge.—
We have frequently used it for that complaint.and
found it  to be of great utility.   Make a tea of tbo
green roots and leaves bruised, and pour on hot
water, and sweaten it with sale molasses.  It may
be  preserved by adding a little spirits, and is good
for the rheumatism and nervous affections.   It ii
perfectly harmless  and  may be used freely ;  it
makes a very good bitter tinctured with hot water
and spirits  ;  and is good to allay an inflamation,
and a diziness, cold feet and hands.
                   No. 117.
             Strengthening Bitters.
   Bitteri for weakly persons  must be made of
peach meat*, cherry stone meats, hoarhound seed 
 140         PRESCRIPTIONS.

or the  flowers, prickly-ash leaves, sweet myrrh
root, camamile flowers andorangepeel, equal parts
each pulverised ; but half an ounce into a quart
of brandy, and use half a wine glass at  a time, or
as much as the patient  can bear, a number of
times a day until the patient is on the gain.
                   No. 118.
               Barberry Bark.
  This is a well known shrub, producing red ber-
ries of a pleasant soui taste,  which are much used
as a pickle, and are also preserved in sugar and
molasses.   The bark or tops are good bitterss and
will correct the boil and assist the digesture. The
bark should be collected in the spring or fall, care-
fully dried and made  into a  fine powder.   It may
be made use of in  any of the  bitters.  A  tea
made of the  bark  is good in all cases of indiges-
tion, and may  be  used freely  to  advantage  by
young and old.
                    No. 119.
               Mandrake  Root.
  This valuable medicine grows  in the  woods,
hedges and meadows.  The stalk grows  about
eight  inches high,  and has  two large  scolloped
leaves, and when it first comes up the leaf resem-
bles an  umbrella, and bears a fruit from the size
of a patridge'segg to that of a hen's egg.  The stalks
are wandering, that is the roots  run about  under
groanJ to a considerable distance, and  produce 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.         141

many stalks which grow up from many parts  of
the root.  It has a yellow root and has many small
fibrous roots running out from the main root,from
four to six inches apart.  Pulverise  this root fine
after dried, then put a table spoonful of the pow-
der in any sort of spirits; take a table spoonful of
it from two to five times a day as the stomach can
bear.  This is the best medicine we ever  made
use of for falling  sickness  fits.1  It will generally
effect a cure in two or three months.

                   No. 120.
            Sassafras Bark or Wood.
  This wood is so well known in  all parts, that
there will be no need of giving any description  of
it.   It is so common in all the states that there is
but little use made of it as medicine, by the phy-
sicians,  except the natives; but they make  great
use of it.—It has been carried to the old countries
if we have been credibly informed, and sold  for a
number of guineas a pound.   It is used in fevers
and many other  complaints by the  natives, and
their mode of preparing the wood  for medicine is
as has been  before  mentioned in getting the oil
out  of red cedar.   The oil is good for the  dropsy,
gout or gravel.   Take  a tea spoonful of it mixed
with honey three or four times a day till cured.  It
is good to put into old sores.   A poultice made of
the  bark when pounded fine, wet with lye, is also
good for sores. 
145         PRESCRIPTIONS.

                  No. 121.
            Brown Epicack Root.
  This valuable herb grows in meadows and hed-
ges, and in appearance is something  like buck-
wheat having similar white blossoms.  When tlie
stem is broken,  it discharges a milky substance,
and has two small pods, about the size of cabbaga
seed pods, with a silky  substance.   This herb id
wandering, that is, the roots are running under
ground, to a considerable distance, and  produces
muny stalks, which grow up from different parts
of the root to the height of about two  feet.   The
sort that is commonly known by the name of wan-
dering milkweed, grows only on upland.  There
is another sort which grows  near  rivers, and  on
Islands, where high water flows over it.  This dif-
fers some from the other in appearance ; the roots
run deeper in the ground ; it has leaves and pods
as the first, and both are good for medicine—tke
bark of the root is used.  The roots should be dug
and when  perfectly dried  may  be pounded in a
mortar, which easily seperates the bark from the
woody parts.   This root is very bitter, and is one
of the greatest correctors for the bile we know of;
and is an  excellent medicine  to remove costive-
ness, as it will cause the bowels to move  in a natu-
ral manner. A strong decoction of this root, made
by steeping it in hot water, if used freely, will ope-
rate as a cathartic, and sometimes as an emetic :
and is most sure to throw off a fever in  its first 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          143

stages.  It should be used in all  case* of costive-
ness.
                   No. 122.
                 Culvers  Root.
  This root is too well known in all parts of the
world to need a description, and we shall there-
fore give but a very  short one.   It  grows wild in
the woods and in hedges ;  the  root kve3 through
the winter, and a new stalk starts out of it in the
fall after the old one is dead.   It grows from two
to four feet in height, with leaves so similar to the
black berry brier that it is very hard to tell them
apart.  When the root is dried and made fine, it
may be mixed with molasses  and  a tea spoonful
taken at  a time.   It is a corrector for  the  bile
when put into spirituous  liquor.  We  should re-
oommend to all those  who wish  to preseive  their
health, to have it constantly on hand,  and  fre-
quently use it so  as  to move the bowels.
                   No. 123.
                 Unicorn Root.
   This root  is very scarce in some parts of the
states, and is  as valuable as it is scarce.  It grows
on sandy or loamy ground, the roots live  through
the winter, and  the leaves and stalk put  forth in
the spring.   The leaves are from  four to  six  in-
ches long,  and from half an inch  to an  inch
broad, and a stalk grows out of the center of them
with a few leaves growing a little way up it, and 
144         PRESCRIPTIONS.

grows from twelve to eighteen inches high, with a
white top resembling  a  cockade,  and the  top
bends over and forms a complete hook. The root
is about thesize of a man's little finger, with many
small fibres, and is about the bitterest root  we ev-
er used,  from  one  to  two inches in length,  and
lies down in the ground with the top attached to
it—We have  made much use of it in pleuratic
complaints, and think it to be the best medicine we
ever  used in that disease ;  it has ever given imme-
diate relief.   It may be made fine  and given  in
the powder, mixed with  honey or molasses, and
is good in all accute and painful disenses.   Take a
tea spoonful of the powder once in  half  an hour,
or made into a tea, it will relieve pain sooner than
when given in  the powders.  We have made use
of it in giving  it to  women  when in pain of any
kind, and use it much in all  our bitters.  It is the
best gathered when the stalk is  dead, but it will do
any time in the year, and is safe in all diseases.
                   No. 124.
                 Golden Seal.
   This root grows very plenty  in many parts of
the world, and especially in the state of Ohio.  It
is known by the leaves it bears and the ground it
grows on, and  the root when dug.   It has a leaf
about the size of a crowslip, but does not grow in
such large clusters, is of a jellow  cast, and grows
from 6 to 10 inches high, and is generally  to be
found on sandy oi loamy land, and  are of a very 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.         14*
deep yellow ; but as the plant or root is so com-
mon where it grows, and  used  by the  common
people for common bitters, in whiskey and other
liquor, ahd unknown to them as medicine  in any
other way, we shall forbear describing the plant
any more, only the use the natives  make of it as
medicine.   They use it as physic, as it is a pun-      ■'
gent root, and will act to correct the stomach and
bile.  Given in small doses, it  will keep the bow-
els in a suitahle motion, and in still larger portions
will act as an ametic or puke, and  as a cathartic
or phvsic.                                         i
                   No. 125.
              Red Cedar Berries.
  The cedar tree is so well known that we shall
give no description  of it, only it is very medical;
the  berries steeped  in brandy are good for the con-      |
sumption, asthma and dropsical complaints.           |
                   No. 126.
                Peach Stones.
  The meats that grow in peach stones have long      I
been used as  medicine,  and but little  need  be
said  about them, except they are of great value to      J
strengthen the stomach of weak patients, when put      i
into spirits, and as bitters, for  which purpose  we
have made  great use of them,  and always to a
good advantage made into a cordial, with other ar-
ticles, in  a  manner as will be hereafter directed,
forms one of the best remedies we know of to re-
cover the natural tone of the stomach after  long
                      10 
146         PRESCRIPTIONS.
 sickness, and to restore weak patients, particular*
 !y in dysentaries.   A tea made of the leaves are
 very good for bowel complaints in  children,  and
 -vill  remove cholics.   The  blossoms  are  good
 phytic for small children.
                   No. 127.
^               Cherry Stones,
   The meats of any kind of cherry stones arc ve-
 ry good, and may be used instead of peach meats,
 when peach cannot be obtained.  Get these stone*
 as clean as possible, and when well dried pound
 them in a mortar,  and seperate the  meats  from
 the stones, which is easily  done ;  take the  sane
 quantity  which is directed of the peach meats, and
 it will answer equally as  well.  A tea made  of
 the cherrry stones pounded with the  leaves and
 steeped with hot water, sweetened with loaf sugar,
 and add  a tincture of prickly-ash, is good to resi
 tore the digestive powers, and create an appetite.
 Bitter almonds may be used as  substitute for the
 peach meats or cherry,  when they cannot be ob-
 tained.
                   No. 128.
              While Epicack Root.
   This valuable vegetable grows in  pastures, high-
 ways and in ploughed fields, and is known to ma-
 ny by the name of silk grass.   It is a diaretic, and
 operates in the urinary system, and is made use
 of in curing the dropsy,  with the dwarf-elder and
 ground-joy ;  take  equal parts  of each, and boil 
PRESCRIPTIONS.
147
them till you make a strong decoction ;  to each
quart of the tea add a quart of good Holland gin,
and take a wine-glass of it once in ten minutes.—
This will cause the water  to discharge with  the
urine.  TI13 above is  the Indian mode  of curing
the dropsy.
                   No. 129.
             Spirits oj Turpentine.
  This article is too well known to need any des-
cription, being used by painters.  The  only wnv
we use it is in such preparations as are intended
for external applications, only giving it for pin worm
in the stomach,  mixed with sulphur, in  which we
have found it useful, and to be u?ed in  the rheu-
matic drops.  It is a powerful article  awl should
be used with caution.
                   No. 130.
                Camphor  Gum.
  We she.ll say but little about this article, as tv.;
never found but little advantage from  using it, al-
though we  never knew it to do any harm.   It.  U
much  made use of and we think there is more
credit given to it than  perhaps it deserves.  W><
have made  some use of it in rheumatism ;  when
used for sprains and such complaints,  it h is been
found useful.
                   No. 131.
               Mountain  Flax.
  This valuable vegetable is very sec-re?, and is to
be found in but few places in the  Sata *, and U as 
 148         PRESCRIPTIONS.

 valuable as it is scarce.   We know of but four
 places where  it can  be obtained :  one  in Massa-
 chusetts, and  one in Carlton Island,  in  the river
 St.  Lawrence, in the state of New-York, and on
the banks of Grand river in  Upper Canada, and in
the state of Michigan,  near the Sugunany  river,
 about 200 miles beyond the city  of Detroit.  It
 grows on dry  sandy  land, and from 10 to 15 inch-
 es  high, has   a small leaf  and  a  small  white
 blossom, which  is  to be seen in  the  month  of
June.   There are many stalks that come  from
 one root, and many  small fibrous roots ;  they are
yellow and very pungent, pricking the glands when
chewed ; the  tops and roots are good for medicos,
and should be gathered when the seeds are in the
milk, and carefully dried where the  sun will not
 shine on it.   The tops and roots may be pulveri-
sed together in a mortar, and put into some arti-
cle and kept from the  air fit for use.  It will stop
any fever in a few hours, if rightly administered.—
Take  a table  spoonful  of the  powder, and  put it
in a tea cup, then pour boiling water on it till  the
cup is full, then cover it over and  let it cool ;—
then take a table spoonful of it once in  ten min-
utes.  The leaves are  good for a common tea in
 all kinds of fevers, and are  very good  for female
weakness, and wormy  children.  Take half a tea
spoonful and mix it with honey or molasses; this
quantity may  be given  once  in two hours, and
will generally  relieve the patient in 12 or 24 honrs. 
PRESCRIPTIONS.         14ft
 It is good in many other diseases, and is  safe in
 all cases, if not given in too large doses.
                    No. 132.
                Lady's  Slipper.
   There are four kinds of these medical roots,
 that are known by wild velerian by some,  and
 are much  used  for  medicine by the  natives.—
 The yellow is the male and grows in swamps, and
 in wet land ; has a large cluster of  fibrous roots,
 matted together, joined to a solid  rooot, which
 puts forth several stems,  and grows about two feet
 high, and has leaves similar to the poke leaf.  The
 female is distinguished by the colors of the blos-
 soms, which are red and white ; the red has  two
 leaves which grow out of the ground and lean over
 to the right and left, between which a single stalk
 shoots forth to the height of 8 or 10 inches, bearing
 on its top a  red blossom,  of a very singular form,
 ihat gives it  the name of female velerian.  This
 sort is found on high land ;  the  red and white
 grows only  in swamps, and in large clusters of
 roots, much like the yellow ;  its top  is similar to
 that of the red, except the color of the blossom.—
 The yellow and red are  the  best for medicine.—
 The roots should  be dug in autumn when done
 growing, or in the spring before the top puts forth.
 If dug when growing, the roots will nearly an  drv
 up.  When dug they should be washed and care-
 fully dried, out of the sun.  It must then be pul-
verised and  sifted  through a  fine sive, and kept 
1«0         PRESCRIPTIONS.
from the air for use.   This powder is tha best
nervine known.  We have made great  use of it
snd have always found it to produce the most ben-
ficial effects in all  cases of nervous complaints,
nnd in hysteric symptoms.   In fact it would be
difficult to get along with our practice, in many
cases, without this important article. It is the best
medicine for diabates that we have ever made use
of, or any obstructions in the urinary passages, for
male  or  female.   For the  obstructions of the
mences, or the retention of the mences, we have
found it to be very valuable.  It is perfectly harm-
less, and may be used in all  cases of diseases with
safety, and is far better than opium, which is gen-
erally given in  all cases of spasmalic affections,
and only deadens  the feelings, and relievos pain
only by destroying sensibility,  without doing any
good.  It has been said by the doctor2, to be of a
nerscotic nature ; but this is a  mistaken notion of
theirs—they have formed their opinion, we sup-
pose,  from its tendency  to  promote sleep ; but
this is altogether owing to its quieting  the nerves,
and leaving the patient at ease,  when nature  re-
quires sleep  to recover the natural tone  of  the
system.

   Haifa tea spoonful may be  given in  a tea cup
half or two thirds full of hot water, and the do3e
repeated, if necessary, or  the same quantity may
be mixed with a tea spoonful of the man-root, for
female weakness or bearing down of the womb : 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.         151

an Injection may be made of the same, and where
there is nervous symptoms,  it should never be dis-
pensed with.
                   No. 133.
                Nervine Root.
  This root is so well known that it will need but
little description given of it.  It is known to some
by the name of Virginia Snakeroot, and is often
found on  high or low land, where it is not very
wet.  It grows from 3 to 4 feet high, with a large
cluster of blossoms  on  the  end  of it,  and has a
long, rough peaked  leaf with  many  small  roots
about the size of a knitting needle, and has a plea-
sant smell and taste.  When dug it must be wash-
ed clean and  dried in a garret or chamber where
it will not be exposed to the weather.  A tea made
of these roots may be used in any fever.   I was
once taken sick with  the  fever and ague, and
other fevers combined with it, about 40 miles from
home, and  had  no medicine with me, and had to
be carried home in a wagon, and after I got home
I made a strong tea of this valuable  vegetable,
and drank  freely of it  until it brought on a fret-
perspiration, and cured  me in two days.   Since
that time I  have made great use of it and to great
advantage in  all kinds of fevers, and is of great
use in the nervous fever.  I was once  taken sick
with the nervous fever,  when with the natives in
one of the  western territories, and  one of the na-
tives attended me, and  made use of  this root, by 
153         PRESCRIPTIONS.
making a tea of it for a constant drink, and boiled
some of it in water and put my feet in the liquor
till it brought on a free perspiration, and he con-
tinued to give the tea to drink, to continue  the
perspiration,  and by so  doing  the  fever  was
thrown off, insanity subsided, and the  nerves qui-
eted, and  I got well in a few  days without any
other medicine.   Always remember this in  all
stages of any disease, especially in fevers, to set
the feet in warm water, with bitter herbs boiled in
it, or steam and drink some  kind  of bitter  or
warming natured tea, so as to open the pores and
bring on a free perspiration, and you will over-
power the fever;  if you  keep the pores open you
will soon get rid  of it with but  little trouble, and
prevent a  great deal of pain and save your prop-
erty, and life, which is of the utmost importance.
The vegetables we have set forth,  we have  en-
deavored to describe in a plain  and easy  manner,
so that they may be understood by those that seek
for their own benefit.  We have thus  far given a
description of  the most  important medicine that
we make the most use of, in our system of practice
under the  head of Roots, Herbs, and Barks, with
the manner of preparing and  using them.  We
shall now  proceed to describe a  number of articles
that may be used as substitutes  for the former, all
of which we have used and found to be good, in
various complaints incident to the human family.
They are all good, and may be  used to advantage
in all diseases in their first stages. 
            PRESCRIPTIONS.          153

                  No. 134.
                  Spearmint.
  This is a well known herb and makes a pleasant
tea, which may be  freely used at the commence-
ment of any complaint, it is of a warming nature,
and may be given sweetened or in  a state of na-
ture.  This herb must be made into a tea and
drank freely, dropt in hot water,  or the oil may
be used in the same manner.
                  No. 135.
                 Peppermint.
  This herb is very hot in its nature, and may be
used to advantage  to promote perspiration  and
overpower the cold.  We  have frequently used
it to advantage in a common sweat; but it is vola-
tile and will not retain the heat long in the stomach,
In colds and slight  attacks  of diseases, to drink
the tea made strong of this herb on going to bed,
will throw it off.  The essence put in warm water
is very good to  give to children, and will relieve
pain in the stomach and bowels.  A few drops of
the oil on  loaf-sugar,  will answer the same pur-
pose, or for worms ; but the patient ought to take
r hysic soon after to carry them off.  We have ef-
fected great worm  cures in this way, and seldom
fail of doing good.
                  No. 136.
                  Peneroyal.
  This herb grows plenty in all parts of thU coun- 
154         PRESCRIPTIONS.
try, and is too well known to need any descrip-
tion, but is a great article in medicine.   A tea may
be used in almost all diseases, where the stomach
ii cold, being warming and cleansing.  If drank
freely will produce  perspiration,  and remove co-
ntractions.  In colds and slight stages of diseases,
will be likely to throw off and prevent sickness.
It is good for children to remove wind.
                  No. 137.
               Summer Savery>
  1 his common herb grows  in  gardens  and is
used as a vegetable food, in cooking fresh  meat;
it is of a  pleasant flavor and hot  nature.   A tea
made of it is good  for a  cold, and may be used
freely in cases of sickness.  There is an oil made
of this herb which  will cure the tooth ache, by
putting a little of it on a piece of lint and  apply.
mg it to the affected tooth.
                  No. 138.
                 Hoarhound,
  This plant grows common in the country, and
is made much use of in  removing coughs.  An
infusion made of leaves and sweetened with honey,
and is good for  the asthma,  and all complaints of
the lungs.  A syrup made of this plant will loosen
tough flem, ami remove hoarseness and any com-
 filaint  on the  lungs, caused  by a cold.   The
 ioarhound candy  is very good  for such as are
troubled with coughs, pailicularly old people, and 
            PRESCRIPTIONS.         155

those that have trouble to breathe, and are short
winded.  AVhen it is boiled down and an extract
made of it,  it may be  made into pills by adding
skunk cabbage balls, or the seeds of the balls, and
red Velerian Root, and man-root.   These pills
may be given in hysteric complaints.
                  No. 139.
              Elecompane Rod.
   The root of this plant made into a syrip is good
for a cough, and we have made use of it to advan-
tage for that  purpose in many cases, by adding
cumphrey and the man-root, and can  recommend
them to be good, when compounded for that com-
plaint,  and as a safe and useful  medicine.

                  No. 140.
                 May- Weed.
   A tea made of this herb, drank hot, when go*
ing to  bed, is very good for a cold or pain in tba
breast, or in the bones, and in slight stages of a
fever, with prickly ash, and a hot stone to the feet,
will in  most cases throw it off.   It grows common
in old  fields and by the side of ro^ds, and is well
known by most people.
                   No. 141.
                 Wormwood.
   This herb is a very wholesome bitter,  and may
be used tQ advantage in many ways.   It i» of a 
156         PRESCRIPTIONS.
hot nature, and is good to create an appetite, nnd
may be used in a tea  or the green herbs may be
pulverised and tinctured with spirits,  and is good
to apply to a bruise, and to lay on the bowels of
children when they are troubled with worm com-
plaints, and many others.
                 No. 142.
                   Tansey
Is a hot bitter herb, and  grows common in high-
ways and is cultivated in gardens.   A tea made
of this is good for the hysterics and  many  other
complaints with women.  It is of a forcible nature.
                  No. 143.
                 Camomile.
   This is a well  known  herb.   The flowers are
Bold by apothecaries,  and are made use of as bit-
ters, and  are  good given as tea  for  bowel com-
plaints ; when externally applied will remove pain;
and  is good for bruises and sprains,  and will re-
move calaces and corns, and  is good for shrunk
sinews.
                  No.  144.
                Bitter-Sweet.
   This vine has long been distinguished as medi-
cine, and of great value for many complaints.—
It grows common in almost all parts of America,
end grows in hedges and in the woods, and twines
around staddles,  and tuns on fences, and tastes 
PRESCRIPTIONS.
157
 whtn first chewed bitter, and then sweet, which
 gave it the name.   It is a good medicine for inter-
 nal injuries, and to  remove  obstructions.  The
 bark of the root with camamile and wormwood,
 makes an ointment  of  great value to apply to
 burns, scalds, frozen parts, and old sores.
                   No.  145.
                Mullen Leaves.
   These leaves are good to bring  down swellings
 and restore contracted sinews, by bruising them
 and applying them to the  parts  affected.   The ,
 leaves or blossoms may be made into a tea, for in-
 fants that are afflicted with convulsiou  fits.   This
 herb is too well known to need any description.
                   No.  146.
                  Burdock.
   The leaves of this plant wilted before the fire,
 and applied to any external injury,  will allay in-
 flamation and ease pain, and are good bruised and
 laid on a sprain,  as they  will  give immediate re-
 lief.  The roots  are good to make use of in the
spring of the year, in syrups and beers, to physic
the blood.  The roots are good  for cholics, and
windy complaints in children, and others.
                  No.  147.
               Skunk Cabbage.
   This vegetable grows  very common in  almost
all parts of the world, and has large leaves some- 
 158         PRESCRIPTIONS.

thing like the garden cabbage ; from  that  and
its disagreeable smell  it  takes its name.  It may
be found in swamps and wet meadows, or  many
other places.  The roots and  buds  are good for
medicine.  The roots should be dug and washed
clean, split in slices and laid in the sunshine to dry.
Together with the buds when dried, they may be
made fine  and oil ted through  a fine  sive.   This
powder may be taken in honey or molasses, or
made into syrup.   A half a  teaspoonful  of the
powder may be taken when going to bed, and is
good for asthmas  and coughs, or any  complaint
on the lungs.  When made into a poultice is good
for sores,  sprains, inflamations, &c.
                  No. 148.
                 Wild  Turnip.
   This is called by some devilsbit, or dragon roof,
or Virginia turnip  ; the  Indian name is Mascas-
cania-reome.  It  grows wild in the woods,  and
has three triangular leaves; from them puts forth
a naked stalk, on the top of which is  a singular
stalk or pistol clothed with a sheath which resem-
bles a  flower, which is followed with a bunch of
redi ;h  herrie-f.  The root resembles a turnip, and
is good for medicine ; it  is very pungent &is good
for a cough and pain in the bowels and to expel
wind.  The root should be dik'd and reduced to
a powder, and may be mixed with white rosin anil
molasses or honey, a tea spoonful to be taken at
once for a grown  person. 
            PRESCRIPTIONS.          150

                  No.  149.
                 Featherfew.
  This herb is stimulating, and is good in hyster-
ic complaints, and  many other complaints  com-
mon to  the female.   It  operates in the urinary
system, and removes obstructions.  It may be ta-
ken in tea mixed with camamile, and used to ad-
vantage.
                  No. 150.
                   Clivers.
  This is a sort of joint grass, and grows in mow-
ing land where the ground is wet, and has small
leaves at each  joint.  The stalks are four square,
and the edges  are rough like a sickle.   This herb
made into a tea and drank freely, is  good for the
gravel, and may be made use of in all those kind
of complaints where  there is  any obstructions.
A tea made of it is good in all kinds of fevers.
                    151.
              Black Birch Bark.
   A tea made of this may be  used  in all  bowel
complaints, and is good for the black jaundice
when mixed with cherry and prickly ash barks.
                  No.  152.
                  Even-Root.
   This is called by some chocolate  root,  on ac-
eotuit of its resembling that article, and is made 
160         PRESCRIPTIONS.

use of by some for common drink, instead of tea
and coffee.  There is  another  root that resem-
bles the even-root, called the crane's bill.  They
may be mixed together or used separate, and are
good for female weakness,  canker or dysentery.
The roots are to be dug, dried, and made fine.—
Half a tea spoonful may be taken three times a
day, mixed with honey or molasses ; it is a  pow-
erful estringent
                  No. 153.
             Slippery Elm Bark.
  The inner bark of this tree is of much value,
and may be used to advantage in many wajs.—
There are many species of the  elm  that  grow
common in all parts of the country.   There are
two kinds of the slippery elm : the bark of one
is rather hard and tough, the other very brittle,
which is the best for medicine.  The bark should
be pealed and the ross shaved off and the  inner
bark dried and made into a powder.   Put a tea-
spoonful of powder into a tea cup with  as much
sugar,  and mix them well  together;  then add a
Utile cold water and stir them till well mixed ;—
then add hot water and stir it till it becomes a gel-
ly, and thick enough to eat with a spoon,  taking a
teaspoonful at once.  It is good for the  hooping
cough, and to heal soreness in the throat,  stomach
and bowels.  The green bark may  be bruised
and applied externally to the stomach.   We have
made great use of this  bark for  poultices, and 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.         1<TI

have found it to be very good in all those prepara-
tions.   It is good in the disentary, relax, diarea or
flux.   It is an excellent injection when mixed with
potatoe starch or flax seed.
                  No. 154.
                Balsom of Fir.
   This balsom is gathered from a tree  called the
fir-tree, well known in the northern parts  of the
United  States and in  the Provinces.   The  bal-
som is  taken from a blister that forms in the bark.
   It is  of  a  very healing nature, and is good to
heal internal soreness and pain in the breast   It
may be dropped on sugar and taken,  and is  of
great value in salves.  The  natives make great
use of it for sores and strengthening plasters.
                   No. 155.
                   Ginseng.
   This  root is of great value, and is found in most
parts of America, and was formerly collected for
exportation in vast  quantities,  and sent to  China,
where   it demanded a great price.   It is said the
inhabitants of that part consider it of  great use
and value ; but for what is  unknown to any bo-
dy but  themselves.   It is a nervine, and may be
used to  great advantage in all cases of nervous
affections, either alone or  mixed with other arti-
cles.  The roots should be dug in the latter part
of the summer, or in the fall, dried  and reduced
to a fine powder.  From a half to a tea spoonful 
163         PRESCRIPTIONS.

maybe given'at once in hot water sweetened, or
any quantity may be put into spirits, and  taken
Occasionally, for a pain in the breast, stomach, or
any internal pain.
                  No. 156.
             Seneca Snake Root.
  This is a well known article, growing wild, and
may be found in many parts of the  world, and is
of a hot nature, and is much made use of  in tea,
for measles and many other complaints, to keep
the  disease out, for which it  is considered to be
very-good.   A tea  made of the root  may be given
to advantage, in many diseases ;  it has a tenden-
cy to promote perspiration, and is good to remove
pains in the stomach  and bowels, and expel pain.
The root when  reduced to a powder may be mix-
ed with golden seal, or lady's slipper, for  a ner-
vous complaint.  The root alone is good for fe-
males when they have taken cold.

                  No. 157.
                Mustard Seed.
  This seed  is made use of to advantage, being
eaten on  meat, for which  it is ground to a fine
powder, and mixed with vinegar.  It is very pun-
gent and of  a hot nature ; but it  is volatile  and
will not hold its heat long enough to do any harm.
It is good to create an appetite and  assist  the di-
gesturc ; and given in hot water sweetened, will 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.         1<W

-remove pain in the stomach and bowels,  and  is
.good for rheumatism.
                   No. 158.
                Horse Racldish.
  This root  is used for culiner purposes,  and  w
wanning and pungent,  and may be given to cre-
ate an appetite.  The leaves are sometimes used
to advantage in drawing blisters.
                   No. 159.
               Balm of Gilead.
   This balm tree '13 a species of  the poplar, and
possesses some medical virtues, and resembles the
poplar that has been  described, having  similar
tags, but the  buds and  leaves are larger.  The
buds bruised and tinctured inspirits, are very good
to  take  for  common  bitters.   They  are  very
strengthening and good for weakly persons.  The
 buds make a very good eye water.
                   No.  160.
                   Butternut.
    This  tree  grows very  common in  almost all
 parts of America, and is well known frorn-.the nut
 it bears, of an oblong shape, and  nearly as long
 as an egg, in which is a meat containing an oil.—
 The bark  of this tree  is used  by the country peo-
 ple for coloring.  The bark taken from the , tree
 or root,  and boiled down till thick, and made into 
 164         PRESCRIPTIONS.

 pills, will operate as a powerful emetic or cathar-
 tic.   A sirup may be made by boiling the bark,
 and adding one-third molasses and a little spirits,
 which is good to give children for worms, and i*
 very good for gentle physic.  The twigs may al-
 so be used for the same purpose, and are more
 mild.  White ash bark and balm of gilead  may
 be added, equal parts, and made into pills.   Those
 that are fond of drastick purges may have  their
 ends answered by these preparations, and are the
 most safe and harmless of any we have yet tried.
 And those who wish to be tortured with blisters
 can have them cheap, by bruising the green shells
 of the nut or the bark, and applying it where the
 blister is wanted.   Keep the bark or shuck wet
 with vinegar, and in three hours it will draw a com-
 plete blister, and is much better and cheaper than
 if done with cantharides.

                  No.  161.

                 Pipsisaway.
  This herb grows on mountainous  land, and on
 pine plains, and is an evergreen plant, grows from
 three to eight inches high, and has  a number  of
 dark green leaves about half an inch  wide,  and
 from one to two inches long, with a scollopt edge,
and bears several brown seeds which some resem-
ble alspice.  Top and roots are  good for medi-
cine.  The roots when chewed are very pnngent
 which will  be felt for several hours on the tongue 
PRESCRIPTIONS.         165
as though burut, and is very  good for drawing
blisters.  A plaster made of the extract, will cure
warts or spider cancers.  A strong tea made ot
the plant is good  for scorfulous humors, and  for
rheumatic complaints by bathing the parts affect-
ed and drinking the tea ;  and is good  for a can-
ker mouth.
                  No. 162.
                Meadow Fern.
  This is a shrub and grows in meadows and by
side of stagnant waters, and is sometimes found
in the water and in thick bushes.   It grows about
three feet high, and when the leaves are off it has
a large bud.   Some of  them bear a small burr,
which, when rubbed between the  fingers, leave a
balsomy substance, having a fragrant  smell  like
spirits of turpentine.   These herbs pounded fine,
simmered in cream, are almost a sovereign rem-
edy for poison and all bad humorous sores. When
the buds cannot be had, take the bark and make
a strong decoction, and drink and wash with the
same.   This  liquor may be prepared  in sirups,
and by boiling down may be made into ointment
by adding a little fresh butter,  or cream.  It wiH
be very good for burns, scalds and freezes.
                  No. 163.
             Shrub, or Prickly Ash.
  This well known shrub grows in many parts of
the  States,  and  is well known by the name  as 
!«<$         PRESCRIPTIONS.

well as by the thorns it bears, and grows from six
to eight feet high, and bears a red berry, which
prows close to the limbs, and has leaves like  the
white ash.  The bark and berries are  used  for
medicine.  The berries are very pungent, and are
a. powerful stimulcnt.   The bark of the body and
root should btj bruised to  a powder, steeped  in
water and put into wine or  spirits.   We have
made use of it to good advantage in the ague and
fever.  Take half a wine glass full two  or three
times a day.   It is good  for lethergy or sleepiness
and  cold  feet and hands-and other complaints
caused by colds.  It makes a  good hot  bittere,
and is good for the blood and to regulate  the gall.
                   No. 104.

      Bitter Thistle, or Cardus Benedictus.

  This herb is a species of the thistle, and is cul-
tivated in gardens, and is of one year's growth.—
The seed being sown in the spring  it comes to
maturity in the fall.  The stalk has a number of
branches  and a great quantity of leaves.  The
leaves are some  laiger than the  Canada thistle,
with prickers to it, and bears seed about the size
of a  barley corn, with a  head on  the end nearly
as long as the seed.  The leaves are used as med-
icine,  which may be  steeped  in  hot  water and
drank like other herb tea, or they may be reduced
to a powder and taken  in spirits or wine, molas-
ses or hot water.   It is good for fever ague, and a 
ruusuiut'TiuNS.-           167
good corrector for the bile, and maybe safely used
for that purpose.  The Cardus  Benedictus, or
beloved thistle, is cultivated for the same purpose.
When bruised or wilted by the fire, they are good
to allay inflammation, or take down a swelling.—
The roots are good to put into physical sirups.
                  No. 165.
                 Archangel.
   This herb grows wild  and on  wet  land, and
may be found growing among the grass, and by
the side of plowed fields, and grows from  six to
twelve inches high.   The leaves are rather small-
er than the mint, and bears a kind of burr that con-
tains seeds, which grow round the stalk at each
joint.   There are two kinds, and  grow near each
other, the male and female.  They look much
alike but differ much in taste.  The male is very
bitter—the female has no bitter taste, but is very
rough, and a balsomy taste.   They may be used
together in a tea, or sirup, and are good for  in-
ternal diseases.
                   No.  160.
                 Blood  Vine.
   This vine grows in swampy land, in  almost all
parts of the New England states, and in the states
of Maine and Pennsylvania, and  is unknown as
medicine to but few except  the natives—it is one
of the best articles that ever was used  to restore 
 168         PRESCRIPTIONS,

 the blood when almost run down in  young  and
 old people.   We have known perhaps more than
 100 to be cured  by the  natives with this vine,
 when all hopes of recovery were gone, by making
 a constant tea of the bark or leaves of this vine.—
 It frequently runs from one to ten rods after  ta-
 king root once in  a foot or two, and  springing to
 the height of from ten to 18  inches.   It has a
 leaf much similar to the blackberry briar, and bears
 fruit similar to the mulberry—are very pungent,
 and will cause a free perspiration, by taking a tea
 made of it once in ten minutes, nearly in all cases,
 and has cured liver complaints  and  dropsy, and
 we have seen such wonders wrought  by using it,
 we forbear to describe it any further only  say it is
 the best article we ever saw in many complaints,
 and most used by the natives where we have been
 acquainted with them, together with the man root,
 commonly called the man-of-the-ground.   All the
 articles that are laid  down  in  this pamphlet,  if
 properly applied, are as good as recommended.

                  No.  167.

            Mcrwin's Headach Snuff.
  This article is a most sovereign remedy for ob-
 structions of the head.  Hence it  cures  the ca-
 tarrh  headach, weak eyes, and even  deafness,
 where any sternulatory would prove ineffectual.-—
 Instead of clogging the  head and injuring  the
lungs, and other organs, like tobacco snuff, it ab- 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          160

 solutely purges the head, and liberates those or-
 gans ;  and those who are accustomed to take otb*
 er snuff will find a singular advantage in taking  a
  Einch ofphis, as it will  immediately cleanse the
  ead, and give them a better relish for the  other.
 On taking cold, how often do people complain of
 a stoppage of the head, deafness,  catarrh; how
 many thousands lose their hearing, or die with an
 inflammation of the brains, from cold ?  How sal-
 utary would it be to purge the head instantly on
 such occasions.   This snuff will injure no person;
 but by the blessing of heaven, it may be beneficial
 to many.   It is not necessary to take it constant-
 ly ; one or two pinches in a day will generally be
 sufficient
   Price fifty cents a paper or box, per parcel on-
 ly, by Smith and  Merwin  ;  and  they intend to
 have it constantly on hand, either wholesale or re-
 tail ;  and after a few months are in hopes to have
 all necessary kinds to retail or wholesale, together
 with printed directions.

                   No.  168.
               Cure for the Piles.

  Take oil of red Cedar one tea  spoonful, and
anoint the parts affected with the same until well,
this seldom fails.   The oil of  cedar is obtained by
splintering a piece of cedar fine, put it under a ket-
tle, placed on a smooth stone  prepared for the pur-
pose, with a channel to let the oil run ; then cov- 
17t)          PRESCRIPTIONS.
er the kettle with moderate fire, until the oil is pro-
cured.
                  No.  169.
             For general Debility.      %
  Take Sweet Fern,  red  Willow  bark,  white
Pine  bark,  Boxwood, (or  dogwood)  blossoms,
Tamarack gum four oz. (for want of the gum use
the  bark,) witch Hazel bark, black cherry bark,
white ash bark, boughs of Hemlock, each one  lb.
six oz. Solomon seal, six oz. blue flagg popplar
bark, eight  oz., Crane's Bill, four oz., Even's root
four oz. slippery elm bark, ten oz., Princes pine,
three oz., cumphrey root, ten oz. ; compound the
whole into a  sirup, forming one  gallon, and add
one pint of spirits to keep it from souring,  of which
let the patient take one spoonful three times a day
before eating.
                  No. 170.
              An excellent  Bitter.
  Take black snake  root six oz.,  Genson  eight
oz., genshang six oz.,  black cherry bark ten  oz.,
basswood root bark fouroz., piickley ash bark 3
oz., cherry or peach gum two oz.,  add the  whole
to two quarts of spirits, and take a small glass at a
time, ten or fifteen minutes before  eating.   We
are confident, from experience, that this is one of
the best medicines to  restore the  digestion  and
strengthen the whole system, and if properly  ta-
ken, will, under the blessing of the Almighty, prove
a radical cure in many cases. 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          171

                   No. 171.
        Cure for Inflamaiory Rheumatism.
   Take sweet flag (Calomus,) one lb. made fine,
 put it into  a quart of brandy,  and apply the li-
 quor to the place affected, bathing it in with the
 heat of a hot iron, taking one spoonful three times
 a day.  We seldom, if ever, knew  this  to  fail,
 when persisted in.
                   No.  172.
            Cure for the Salt Rhume.
   Take the leaves of wheat,  and  the bark of
, sweet Elder, and  the bark of bitter-sweet, equal
 parts, put them into water and boil them until the
 strength is procured ; strain and boil down the
 juice until thick,  then  add half a pound of  hog's
 lard, and two oz. fine blood-root.  Oint with this.
 It seldom fails.
                   No. 173.
         Cure for bleeding at the Lungs.
   Take hemlock bark, and  white  rosin,  equal
 weight,  made  fine  ; take one  tea spoonful  at a
 time.   It may  be taken in a little sirup,  as most
 convenient.
                   No. 174.
             A cure for the  Gravel.
   Make a strong decoction of the  leaves of the
 common Pink  ; drink  of  this  three cr lour times
 a day until well—this seldom fails when all other
 medicine has. 
173         PRESCRIPTIONS.
                  No.  175.
        A cure for the Ague and Ftver.
  Take half an oz. of red Bark, fifteen grains of
powdered  Snake Root, twenty grains of the salt
of Wormwood, mix the whole and divide in three
potions, take one of them in a little molasses, one
hour before the  usual time of the  fit ; we have
not found  this fail in many years practice.
                  No. 176.
                Green  Salve.
  Take mutton  suit, (or Deer's tallow)  one lb.,
bees wax  two oz., half an oz. of  beef gall, and
ten or fifteen grains of Verdigris, unite the  whole
while warm, and stir until cool—this is an  excel-
lent salve  for old sores, and is  a  beautiful pea
green.
                  No.  177.
        Cure of the Chronic Rheumatism.
  Take gum guacum two oz.,  pitch pine knots
six oz.  put both into good brandy, and after digest-
ing three days,  take a tea spoonful three times a
day until cured ; this seldom fails of a cure in  a
few day3.
                  No.  178.
\^'    Cure for the Sartick Rheumatism*
  This is  the hardest  rheumatism to remove, of
either of the three kinds, 
PRESCRIPTIONS.          173
   Take one lb. of gum  myrrh, pulverised, put it
 iuto a jug containing two quarts of spirits, boil the
 1'ug in this state, until the gum is dissolved, of  this
 iquid, take one half  pint,  add one tea spoonful of
 spirits of Turpentine,  of this anoint the part af-
 fected freely, taking a tea spoonful of the  former
 composition, once in two hours, until the cure is
 performed.

                   No. 179.
             Cure for the Dyscntary.
   Take white oak bark three oz., white elm and
 black berry  root equal parts, steep  them  in new
 milk, until of a proper strength ; after taking  out
 the bark and roots, sweeten the milk with loaf su-
 gar, and (after a potion of physic) give one spoon-
 ful of this medicine once an hour, and under the
 blessing of God, a cure will soon be performed-—
 in serious cases, use the same as an injection,  ad-
 ding twelve or fifteen grains of opium, and repeat
 once in five or six hours, if  need be.

                   No. 189.

                 Eye  Water.
   Take Epsom  salts, and  burn  them in an iron
 vessel, until  they are calcined,  then  beat them
 fine, to one oz. of rain  water put one tea spoonful
of this powder and one tea  spoonful  of  common
 salt. This kind of eye water will cure the inflam-
 ed sore  eyes.—This water has been kept a secret 
174         PRESCRIPTIONS.
for more than thirty years, to our knowledge, and
many have made almost their fortune by it.
                  No. 181.
            Cure for the Hystericks.
   Take a quantity  of Hoarhound, and boil  it
until the strength is out, then take  out the herbs
nnd strain the juice, boil it down until it is like wax,
then make it into pills the size of a pea. Take oua
three times a day until cured.
                   No. 182.
          To slop bleeding at the Lungs.
   Take hemlock bark of the out side made fine,
say two spoonfuls, and one spoonful of white rosin
mixed together, take a tea spoonful at a time—•
this we never knew fail.
                    No. 183.
               Cure for a  Burn.
   Take one lb. of hogs lard, one oz. of the spirits
of turpentine, one oz. of verdigris made  fine, and
one oz. camphire gum—heat your  lard  boiling
 hot, then  put in  the  above  articles, stiring it until
 it gets cold, then bottle it for use ;  this will cure a
 burn, scald, fellon, or  frost bitten, without  fail,
 and ought to be kept in every family.
                    No. 184.
            To slop  Blood without fail.
   Take the root of the May apple, or, as is called
 by some, Mandrake—apply the root  made fine to 
            PRESCRIPTIONS.         173

the part affected, and it will stop the blood in one
minute.
                   No. 185.
          Cure for Burns and Scalds.
   Take olive oil three oz. bees wax one oz. Peru-
vean bark half an oz. sugar lead do. Lethrage of
gold, do.—melt the oil and wax, and add the oth-
er ingredients, letting the whole simmer  over the
fire for one hour, then stir  until  cooled—Two  or
three dressings of this, will usually cure.
                    Dr. A. K. McKENZIE.
                   No. 186.
   Cure for the swelling or Joint Rheumatism.
   Take sweet Flag, otherwise Calainas root two
lb3. beat it fine,  add one quart of 4th proof bran-
dy, after it digests for six or eight houis,  give the
patient one tea spoonful at  a time, and  increase
the dose as the  patient may bear it, at the  same
time bathing the part affected, and  heating it in
with a hot iron—after bathing the parts, bind  on
a poltice ; we seldom knew this to fail.
                   No. 187
     An excellent salve Jor old or new Sores.
   Take one  pint of rum,  one pint  of cider, four
oz. Rosin, half an ounce of Safron flowers, all
made fine, simmer the whole until  it forms a hard
salve, be careful not to burn the composition. 
176         PRESCRIPTIONS.
                   No. 188.
               For the Diabates.
   Drink freely of tea made of the bark of the
white thorn, this will cause a free flow of urine
in all cases.

                   No. 189.

             Cure for the  Dropsy.
   Take  two drachms  of gum  Gamboge,  one
drachm of salt Petre, one oz.  myrrh, four drachms
of Coperas, all  made fine,  put the  whole into a
bottle containing one pint of water,  shake it  well
until all is dissolved,  of which give the patient fifty
drops three mornings, omitting  three mornings,
and so on till a  cure is effected.

                   No. 190.

              Cure for the Piles.
   It will be remembereil that  there  are  two
kinds of Piles, the bleeding and blind, so called—
for the bleeding take one oz.  of beef gall, two oz
hogs lard, one oz.  bees wax. half an oz. of Scotch
snuff, and as much Verdigris as you can hold on
a six penny piece, mix them  well  together,  and
anoint the parts two or three times a day.   Let
the patient  avoid the causes of complaint, (i. e.)
cold, fatigue, riding, or haid drinking and costive
bowels,  the usual causes of the disease. 
PRESCRIPTIONS.         177
                   No. 191.
              For the Blind Piles.
  Anoint with  red cedar oil.  See No. 100, with
the mode of preparing the oil.
                   No. 192.
              Cure for the Gravel.
   Make a  tea of the garden pink  leaves, give a
wine glass three times a day, if the patient be able
to bear it.   This receipt was purchased from doc-
tor Pent, of France, in South Carolina, at $25.  It
is a powerful medicine, and must be  given  with
judgment.   We can recommend it as a certain
cure.
                   No. 193.
        Cure for the Cancer in the Breast.
   Take yellow dock root, boil it  into a poultice,
wash with the liquor, and apply the poultice ; we
have known this succeed in many cases.
                   No.  194.
  Cure for the Bloody Flux—By Doct. Hagby.
   Take the root of Balm, steep it in milk nnd wa-
ter, and  sweeten it with loaf sugar ;  use freely un-
til well.
                   No. 195.
          For the Lieucorea or Whites.
  Make a free use of a tea made of the herb call-
ed the low Mouse ear—this plant is well known,
and grows on sandy land.
                     12 
173         PRESCRIPTIONS.
                   No.  196.
                  For a Sprain
   Take Cumphry root made  line, and add loaf
 BUgar, simmer it together and apply it to the part.
                   No. 197.
         A Sirup for the  liver complaint.
   Take blue flag  root four oz.,  sassafarella root
 6 oz., spikenard 8 oz., elecompane 8 oz., leather
 wood 8 oz., white pine bark 8 oz.,  the  moss of
 Pitch  pine trees 4 oz-, Indian  sellet,  otherwise
 princes pine four oz., lung-wort three oz., brook-
liver wort three oz., bark  of witch-hazel four oz.,
boiled in water to two quarts and add one  point
of spirituous  liquor,  to keep from souring ; take
a wine glass three  times a day.
                    No.  198.
                For Deafness.
  Take snails, put them into a bottle, set it  in the
sun or sand heat, until they form into an oil, drop
in a few drops, and stop the ear with a little to-
bacco out of the  mouth of another.   Another—
Take the brains of the woodpecker, Extract the
oil, and use it; I have often found it cure.
                   No. 199.
                For the  Cramp.
  Take Sulphur, put it in a bag, and put it on the
part  affected,  taking a spoonful  every morning
until the cure is performed.
                   No. 200
   A Sirup for the consumption in the Blood.
  Take pitch pine knots, and  boil them  for twe 
              PRESCRIPTIONS,         179

 or three  hours, then  strain off  the juice,  to
 which  you will add  rye bran,  and let it  stand
 twelve  hours.  Pour off the  liquid and add one
 third of good Madeira wine, bottle it up and keep
 it in a cool place—take a wine glass full  three
 times a day.         No. 201.
               For the  Jaundice,
   Fill a quart  bottle with  hops, adding as much
 spirits as the bottle will contain, of  this take a
 glass three times a day.
                   No. 202.
      A Sirup for the Quick  Consumption.
   Take adders tongue  two quarts of the ieav<^,
 and two oz. of rock lime, (it Ins  the appearance
 of brook-liver wirt,) put both in an earthen ves->-
 and add half a pound of b;if sugar. To prepare,
 lay your adders tongue in the bottom of the vessel,
 then sprinkle on some sugar, then cover the above
 with  Rye Dock, next put in your rock lime, then
 another  layer of sugar, again cover  with dock,
 after which make holes through the dock and fill
 up with maJeira wine, cover the  whole tight and
 put it in an oven to bake it well,  then mix it all
 together.   Give the patient one tablespoonful at
 a time,  but judgment must be exercised.
                   No. 203.
   •»    For the Scrofula, or Kings Evil.
  Take cuckle  weed and stew in goose oil,  form
it into a salve, and  anoint from four to five times
a day;  the cuckle weed is well known, it grows 
 180         PRESCRIPTIONS.

about two  feet high and  resembles the tea leaf,
has a kind of  burr  and a forked seed that will
stick in your clothes if  touched ; it  grows  near
old Barns—this salve seldom fails to cure.
                   No, 204.
     A radical cure for  the Cholera Morbus.
   Take  lime in the stone, a piece  as large as a
robbin's eye, and slack  it in half a pint of water.
let it settle, then pour off the water, bottle and add
camphiregum,  apiece  as large as a  chesnut ;
of this let the  patient  take a tea spoonful, in a ta-
ble spoonful of water, repeat once in three or four
hours, as often as may  be necessary.  This sel-
dom or never fails.—Another.—Take two table
spoonsful of good vinegar, make it into a sirup, &
add a small tea spoonful of table salt.—Take once
in three hours. This cures the Asiatic Cholera.
                  Doct A. K. McKENZlE.
                   No. 205.
               Cure for a  Cough.
   Take  garlick two oz. sliced fine, put it into a
bottle with half a  pint of the best vinegar,  let it
stand for twenty-four hours—of  this kt the pa*
tient take a tea spoonful  as often as the eough
demands ; this, though simple, will gain the ap-
probation of those  who make a fair trial of it.
                   No. 206.
 *.  "■"""■    A Strengthening Plaster.
   Take hemlock gum half an oz-, hartshorn three 
             PRESCRIPTIONS.          131

drachma, camphire gum one scruple or twenty
grains, and form the whole into a salve—spread
it On a piece of buekskin as large as may be want-
ed to cover.
                   No. 207.
          Another curefof the Gravel.
  Take radish seed two oz., carrot seed two oz.,
bohea tea two oz., make the whole into a tea, of
which drink freely until well.—Doct.  Glare.
                   No. 208.
               Headach Snuff.
  Take the leaves of Elener, called j»jp  weed, if
it cannot be had, take the leaves of jay, which will
t.nswer  the same  purpose, dry and make it  into
a snuff—'this will cure in most cases.
                   No. 209.
             Cure for sore Mouth.
  Make a  strong  tea of oak  bark,  add a tea
spoonful of alum, to a tea cup full sweetened with
honey-~Wash the mouth every half hour.
                   No. 210.
              dure for the Asthma.
  Take the juice of Rue, and add equal parts of
hens oil.—-Take a tea spoonful at a time, this sel«-
dorn fails to c\we.--Another^&m6ke the seeds of
Jinstan Weed, this weed is known by  its offensive
smell and disagreeable burr, which is  as large as
a black walnut, which contains the seed. 
CONTENTS.
                   Page
 Preface,               3
 Introduction,           8
 MEDICAL PRESCRIPTIONS.
 Indian Physic,         18
 Scurvy Grass Root,    20
 Culver's Root,         22
 Columbo Root,         22
 Butternut Pills,        25
 China Rhubarb Root,   26
 Nine-bark Root,       27
 Square-stalk Root,     28
 Agrimoney,           29
 Black Snake Root,     30
 Corn Snake Root,      31
 Mountain Mint,        32
 Horse Balm,           33
 Bark of White  Pine,   34
 Abela,or Trumpet weed,31
 Blue-berry  Root,       35
 Squaw Root,           37
 Back-ache Root,       38
 Devil's Nip,           38
 Devil's Bit,            39
 Small Asmart,         40
 John's Wort,          40
 Eye Water,            41
 Dr.Perkin's last remedy,42
 Columbo Root Oxymel, 43
Anodyne Pills,         44
 Dr.Reeder's Chalybeate, 46
 Warner's Pills,         47
Porter's Ointment,'     48
 Red Sear Salve,        49
 Common Salve,        60
 Purvey Ointment,     01
 Tent Salve,           61
 Cure for the tooth ache, 52
 Ear Ache,            63
 King's Evil,           63
 Water Application,     64
 Snake root and Sage tea, 55
 To cure the Jaundice,  67
 Pills for the Jaundice,  68
 Antidote for  diseases,  58
 Cure for the Dropsy,   59
 Chalybeate Oxymel,   60
 Dr. Tiffin's Prescription 63
 Sirup for Dysentary,   64
 Croup orbold Hives,   66
 Sirup for the Quinsy,   66
 For the Canker,        67
 Pain in the Breast,     68
 Persons stunned, &c.   69
 Stopping  of Blood,     71
 Bleeding at the Nose,   72
 Bleeding at the  Lungs, 73
 Linseed Oil,           74
 Preserving the Teeth,  74
 Cure of Bites & Slings, 75
 The Thrush,           76
 Solution of Sublimate,  76
 Solution for Tetters,    77
 Tetters or breaking out, 78
 Dr. Witt's Cure,       78
Cancers cured by Snails,79
The Tape Worm,      80
Ointment for Bums,     80
Pepper prevents ague,  82
For the Asthma,        83 
 Ointment for the Itch,  83
 Precipitate Ointment,  84
 A dislocated Shoulder, 84
 For a broken Bone,    83
 Sprained ancle or wrist, 86
 General directions,     87
 For the Dew-worm,    89
 Ointment fur the Piles, 90
 For curing Boils,
 The cure of fevers,
 For a swelling,
 The Hydrops,
 For a Diarrhoea,
 For a Stranguary,
 For the Diabetes,
 For the dead Palsy,
To expel  Worms,
The cure of Fevers,
The virtue and &c,
Maccine Jnnoculalion,  102
Tincture of Cantharidesl05
93
94
96
97
97
98
99
99
White Ash Bark,     133
Red Raspberry Leaves, 133
Rheumatic Drops,     133
Indian fever Powders,  134
Wild Indigo Weed,    134
Indian cure for Cancers 135
German cancer plaster, 135
    Bay berry,
90kHops,
OlfSnake  Weed,
    Common Bitters,
    Poplar Bark,
    Cohush,
 To prevent, &c,      106
 For persons lean,     107
 The Silver Root,      108
 Back-ache Root,      109
 Indian mode of &c,   111
 Man-Root,            118
 A reeipe to cure &c,  122
 Composition powder,  123
 White Pond-lilly root, 124
 Hemlock Bark,       125
 Canker-weed,         126
 Golden Root         127
Red Cedar Oil,        128
Ametick Herbs,       129
Thorough Wirt,      130
 Adam and Eve  Root,  131
                     136
                     137
                     137
                     137
                     138
                     18
Strengthening  bitters,  139
                     140
                     140
                     141
                     142
                     143
                     143
                     144
                     145
                     146
                    146
                    147
                    147
                    147
                    149
                    151
                    153
                    153
                    153
                    154
                    154
                    J 65
                    155
                    15S
 Barberry Bark,
 Mandrake Root,
 Sassafras Bark,
 Brown Epicack Root,
 Culvers  Root,
 Unicorn  Root,
 Golden Seal,
 Peach Stones,
 Cherry Stones,
 White Epicack Root,
 Spirits of Turpentine,
 Camphire Gum,
 Mountain Flax,
 Lady's Slipper,
Nervine Root
Spearmint,
Peppermint,
Peneroyal,
Summer Savery,
Hoarhonnd,
Elecompane  Root
May Weed,
Wormwood 
CONTENTS.
Tan*cy,              156
Cam ami k,            156
Bitter-Sweet,          156
Mullen Leaves,        157
Burdock,             157
Skunk Cabbage,       157
Wild  Turnip,         158
Featherfew,           159
Clivers,               159
Black birch bark,      159
Even  Root,           159
Slippery Elm Bark,    16U
Balsom of Fir,        161
Ginseng,              161
Seneca snake  Root,   162
Mustard Seed,        162
Horse Raddish,        163
Balm of Gilead,       163
Butternut,            163
Pipsisaway.           164
Meadow Fern,        165
Shrub, or Prickly Ash, 165
Bitter Thistle,        166
Archangel,           167
Blood Vine,           167
Merwiu's Snuff,       168
Cure  for the  Piles,     169
For general Debility,   170
An excellent Bitter,    170
Cure  for Rheumatism, 171
Cure  for the  Rhume,   171
Cure  for Bleeding,     171
Cure  for the Gravel,   171
A cure for the Ague,   172
Green Salve,          172
Cure for Rheumatism, 17?
Do. Sartic Rheumatism 173
Cure for Dysenlary,   173
Eye Water,           173
Cure for the Hystericksl74
To stop bleeding,      174
Cure for a Burn,      174
To  stop blood,        174
Cure for Burns,       175
Cure for Rheumatism, 175
An excellent Salve,    175
For the Diabates,      176
Cure for the Dropsy,  176
Cure for the Piles.     176
For the blind Piles.   177
Cure for the Gravel,   177
Cure for the  Cancer,  177
Cure the bloody flux,  177
For the Lieucerea,     177
For a Sprain,         178
A Sirup for, &c.      178
For Deafness,        178
For the Cramp,       178
Sirup for Consumption 178
For ihe Jaundice,      179
A Sirup,             179
For the Scrofula.      179
A radical cure,        180
Cure for a Cough,     180
Strengthening plaster, 180
Cure for the   Gravel,  181
Headach Snuff,       181
Cure for sore Mouth,  181
Cure for the Asthma,  181 
 
 
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