^ouo^yuodL (j.M") THE HISTORY A.ISTID TTS^ESS OF THK IGNATI A A M A R A ; OR, ST. IGNATIUS' BEAN. FROM SEVERAL AUTHORS. WITH REMARKS ON ITS PECULIAR PROPERTIES IN' KKUOViNU (A;M-:it.Vl. NERVOUS DEBILITY, AND VARIOUS PAINFUL AND IKIMTAlSU: CONDITIONS OF THE BRAIN AND NKRV^irS SYSTEM. By JOUraLDAttNALL. IN WHOSE CASE OF NERVCHS DEIHLITY, THE IGXAT1A EXTRACT W US I FIRST SUCCESSFULLY USED J AS PREPARED BY HIS O.M.Y f AUTHORISED lMSPEVSKR OF THE SAME. J »i c THE HISTORY .A-HXTID USES OF THE IGNATIA AMARA; OR, ST. IGNATIUS' BEAN, FROM SEVERAL AUTHORS. WITH REMARKS ON ITS PECULIAR PROPERTIES IN REMOVING GENERAL NERVOUS DEBILITY, AND VARIOUS PAINFUL AND IRRITABLE CONDITIONS OP THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. ;.,o"A ■ ■ -■" s JOHN M. DAG N ALL. . • ■ i Entered according to an Act of Congress in the year 1856, by JOHN M. DAGNALL, 186 Fcltox Street, BROOirrnf, N. T. to the aerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. "To do good, and to commmuuicate, forget not."—Hebrews xiil., 16. The sincere Christian cannot read the above injunction of the Apostle to the Hebrews, without being reminded of an important social duty, " to communi- cate, forget not;" and if all would act upon the principle, how much good might be accomplished. But such is the amount of selfishness and narrow-mindedness in this; money- getting age—this age of Mammon-worship—that few can be found to commu- nicate to their fellow beings anything worth knowing, unless such communica- tion can be made subservient to the rapid and inordinate accumulation of wealth, although the communicator may be surrounded with an abundance of this world's goods, and existing under the certain conviction, that it is in his power by so doing, to lessen the amount of human suffering—of human misery, and thereby to increase the amount of human happiness. But it seems that, in the majority of instances, any departure from the rule, is only calculated to insure the laugh of the grovelling and narrow-minded, with certain annoyance from the designing and interested Hence the author is prepared to expect his little treatise—written with the design of benefitting a very large class of sufferers—will not fail to encounter opposition, and to experience a portion of those unfair modes of treatment. To obviate this, he could easily have increased the size of the present publi- cation to a more costly one ; but this would have kept it from a very large and numerous class of invalids, whose sufferings he desires to alleviate. Hence he trusts his little work will be found to contain all the most valuable facts yet known respecting the useful qualities of the Iqnati a Amara- It is confined to as few words as possible consistently with making its eon. tents clearly understood; and his honest conviction is, that it will be found deserving tho attention of all who suffer from any of the various and multifa- rious manifestations of nervous disorders The authors from whom tho extracts are made are well known to a consider- able portion of tho public, and easy of reference; and no details are given on the author's own responsibility, which cannot at the same time be corroborated by an abundant amount of written testimony, emanating from all classes of society, and gathered from all parts of the Jnited States. Not a county, or division of the country exists, which has not furnished its quota to the overwhelming amount of evidence that has been for months accu- mulating in favor of the hitherto much neglected Iqnatia, and the whole ol which may at all times be seen and inspected at his address, 186 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. IGNATIA AMARA: ITS HISTORY, USES, &c. Ignatia is the systematic name of a genus of plants in the Linncan System, elnss Pendandria, order Monogynia, and the Amara is one which affords tne Faba lndica, Faba Febrifuga, Faba Sancti Ignatii, or St. Ignatius' Bean. The plant is common in the West Indies and the Philippine Islands, but is very ill culled a bean, being truly a gourd. " It grows to a great height, when there is a tree to support it, for it cannot support itself. It has a stalk as thick ns a man's arm, angulated, light but not firm. The leaves are very large, oblong, and undivided, and they have the ribs very high upon them ; they are broad at the head, and grow narrower to tho point, and are of a deep green color. The flowers are very large and of a deep blood red ; at a distance they have the aspect of a red rose. The fruit is large and roundish ; it has a woody shell, and over that a thin skin, bright and shining. Within there are twenty or thirty seeds ; they are of the bigness of a small nutmeg when we seo them ; they are roundish and very rough upon the surface ; each is of a woody substance, and when tasted, is of the flavor of Citron seeds, but extremely bitter and nauseous. The color is of all, gray or brownish." Sir John Hill, from whom the above description is taken, gays in his Family Horbal—a work now out of print, but which may be frequently purchased, at «ocond-hnnd book stores, price from one to two dollars :—" The seeds are wha;_ we use in medicine, and called tho St. Ignatius' Bean. (It is a very powerful Medicine, but it has many virtues. The powder given in a small dose, occa- ,ions vomiting and purging ; it is much better to give it in tincture, when no such effects happen from it. Tis of an excellent effect against nervous com plaints i it will cure the falling sickness, (epileptic fits,) given in proper doses, unci continued for a long time. The tincture is the best for this purpose. Some have given the powder in small quantities against worms, and that with suc- cess. Its extreme bitter makes it very disagreeable, and the taste continues in the throat a long time, whence it occasions vomiting. We neglect it very much at present because of its roughness, but it would be better if we found the way of giving it with safety.' There are gentler medicines but none 01 I them so efficacious ! ' It will do service in cases that the common methods i- notreach." . Hooper in his Medical Dictionary, fol. 638, fifth edition, says that "in the Phillippine Islands, the Iqnatia is used in all diseases." 6 Chambers in his Cyclopaedia, folio edition, four volumes, published in 1799, says : " The Ignatia is much celebrated for its medicinal virtues, being recom- mended in vertigoes, lethargies, epilepsies, asthmas, quartian agues, and worms. It is also given against distemperations of the stomach, and as an alexipharmic. That Neuinan says he has known intermitting fevers cured by drinking, on the approach of a paroxysm, an infusion of some grains of the seed in Carduus water ; and that Dr. Lewis had been informed that two grains were found to have as much effect as a full dose of bark." Hue, in his travels through Tartary, Thibet, and China, a work recently published, of Appletons' Popular Library, 200 Broadway, New York ; in two volumes, says in vol. 1, folio 159, that/" the Ignatia iscalled Kou Kouo ; that if taken inwardly it modifies the heat of the blood and extinguishes aTTinflam- matiens. It is an excellent specific for all sorts of wounds and contusions ; and enjoying a high character in the Chinese ''Materia Medica," is sold in all chemists' shops.' The veterinary doctors also apply it with great success to the internal diseases of cattle and sheep." Juhr, in his new manual of homcepathic practice, recommends it for " neu- ralgia or tic, spasms, constipation and violent headache, giddiness, nervous dyspepsia or indigestion, epileptic fits (consequence of deep-rooted emotion, especially grief), great heat in the head, aversion to food, flatulency, jerkiug of the hands, feet, and various muscles of the body, want of sleep, dreams of an unpleasant character, trembling, palpitations of the heart, anguish, as if the patient had committed wrong, fearfulness, great tendency to start, tendency to blush at trifles, impatience, iuvoluntariness, inability to be cheerful, to be talk- ative, sadness, feelings of internal chagrin, &c , &c." To its good effects in habitual costiveness, dyspepsia, incessant shaking, nervous headache, sleeplessness, palpitation of the heart, confusion of thought, blushing, restlessness, mental inquietude, determination of blood to the head, silent wretchedness, reluctance to go into society, failure of memory, unfounded dread of the future, sensation of soreness in the chest, and of dullness, weight, and frequent noises in the head, with inability to concentrate the mental powers for any considerable time on a given subject, he can himself bear witness, inas- much as these formed the symptoms he mostly complained of, After all the usual routine, and almost irregular means, had been tried with- out success, it was resolved on, as a last resource, to try the powers of the Ignatia Amara. With the result the public have long since been made acquainted; and although these results may appear to many marvellous in their character, yet numbers of cures quite as extraordinary in their nature have since then been effected, and are boing effected daily through the same agency. In fact, letters bearing testimony to cures of an almost miraculous character are in hand, and, with the full permission of the writer, may at all times be inspected ; and so frequent is now become the receipt of these kind of communications, that not a morning's post arrives without bringing its contri- bution of letters, conveying the most grateful thanks and acknowledgments to the benevolent author of the facts, which have been so liberally placed before the public. 7 The valuable qualities of the Iqnatia were first made extensively known during tho winters of 1854-5. In a few weeks, testimony to its efficacy began to arrive, and at the moment of writing this (May 25, lt&u), embracing a period >.f nearly two years, the enormous number of 1,000 testimonials have been received, and are still being received in an increasing ratio. They embrace communications from every class of society, and form on the whole such an amount of testimony in favor of this simple agency, as cannot fail to satisfy all who will give themselves the trouble to examine its details, and investigate its authenticity. The letters thus received have been carefully filed, and tho symptoms described by the various writers as having been removed by the Ignatia Pill. From which it appears they have succeeded in removing violent nervous headaches of long standing, nervous deafness, affections of the stomach, digestive and alimentary organs, highly excited, irritable conditions of the brain, preventing sound or refreshing sleep, and in many cases any sleep at all, giddiness, noises and beating in the head, melancholy or depression of spirits, imaginary fears, failuro of the powers of body and mind, timidity, bashfulness and dislike to society, involuntary blushing, thoughts of self-destruction, iow- ness of ,-pirita, excessive and groundless fear, dread of coming evil, insanity, &c, St. Vitus's dance, spasms, great tendency to start, to be frightened, con- vulsive and epileptic fits, palpitation of the heart, biliousness, sluggishness and derangement of the liver, cold feet and hands, very low circulation of the blood, a great deal of pain moving all over the system, electric shocks darting from the small of tho back to the head, rcMlering the sufferer almost blind, great weakness across the bowels, and sometimes across the small of the back, habitual constipation, great heat of the blood, nervousness resulting from the reverses of fortune, mental anxiety, vicissitudes of life, unhealthy and seden- tary occupations, excessive labor of body and mind, the abuse of alcoholic stimulants, natural debility of the constitution, unwholesome atmosphere, im- proper diet, or from badly treated inflammatory, bilious, and other fevers, fright, bad habits, or bad medical treatment, irritability of the stomach, induc- ing frequent vomitings and faintings, flatulency, indigestion and loss of appe- tite ; and in Neuralgia or Tic Doloreux its effects have been so extremely grati- fying and beneficial, that it may almost be regarded as a specific. To render the work as useful as he has endeavored to make it interesting, he will now proceed to describe the best form in which the Icj nati.v can be exhibited for the removal of any of the above named disordered states of the nervous system, accompanying it with such remarks as may tend to guard the invalid against being imposed on by the unscrupulous or the dishonest. S ir John Hill thiuks the best form for its exhibition is the tincture, and cer- tainly it may be classed as one of its least objectionable forms ; but there is no question that the Spiritous Extract, prepared by pulverising the Seed or Bean, • and subjecting the powder to the action of alcohol, for ten or twelve days, is a better form still. For in the latter case the alcohol, so objectionable to many, and so injurious in many diseased states, is got rid of; and nothing of a stimu- lant or exoiting nature, is taken into the system along with the drug. 8 The proportion of the Extract and the bodies necessary to bring it into the form of pills, is as follows : Alcoholic Extract of Hie Ignatia Ainara - - 30 grains. Powdered Gum Arabic......10 do. Make into Forty Pills, and ta/ce one, an hour after breakfast, and one, an hour before supper, or at least an hour before retiring to rest. Half a Pill night and morning will be found sufficient for very young, very aged, or very delicate persons. The Pills may be easily cut if laid on a damp cloth for a short time to soften them. Or they may be mads of the half-grain size at the time of preparing them. The quantity required to bring the mass into a good working condition will vary, however, considerably, according to the state of extract, and the temperature of the atmosphere ; and in very warm weather it will be found necessary to add a little starch to make it work well, especially if the pills are intended to be rolled out on a machine ; but as starch is a non-medicinal sub- stance, no harm can arise from any quantity which may be added for such a purpose. The effect of this compound will be to give relief in seven cases out of every eight in which it may be employed ; but in the ratio of one in every ten, it will be found to produce feelings of nausea, and various unpleasant sensations in the stomach and head ; and as these symptoms evidently arise from the nauseating bitterness of tho drug, it becomes a matter of importance, to prevent such kind of effects, provided, however, that it always bo done without decreasing the beneficial action of the remedy on tho nervous system. This, it has been found, may be accomplished by passing a current of steam for a few minutes, through the powder from which the extract is intended to be made, which having been carefully done, the extract is easily prepared by steeping three or four ounces of the powder in five times as many ounces (by measure) of alcohol, or spirits of wine, as it is usually called, and allowing it to stand for ten or twelve days, observing to shake it occasionally. At the expi- ration of this period it should be filtered through blotting paper, and the filtered liquor put into a basin placed over boiling water. In a few hours the spirit will have evaporated, and the Extract will be found at the bottom of the basin, ready for use. This form of the Extract is the one his dispenser has been in the habit of preparing for the past few months, during which time he has only received two letters complaining of its not having agreed well with the patient. Neverthe- less, the Iqnatia must not be regarded as a panacea, or universal remedy for all kinds of nervous affections, and proceeding from whatever cause they may, none but quacks and charlatans would contend that it whs so. But a larger amount of success has attended its employment in morbid conditions of the nervous system than has, in all probability, ever fallen to the lot of any single drug to accomplish ; for the correspondence arising from dispensing the Pills is 9 very carefully kept, accurately filed, and accounts of cures, and testimonials, arranged in such a manner that any required result can be arrived at in a few minutes ; and it is shown in a most satisfactory manner, that numbers of severe aud long-standing cases have been entirely cured by a single box of the Pills ; thut others have required a second, or even a third, to obtain the object desired j and that only one case in thirty-nine has terminated in complete failure aud disappoiutmeut. This, however, embraces an amount of success fairly cutitling the Iqnatia to a trial by all who have sought the usual routine method of treatment, without relief. The sources from whence the Extracts contained in this littlo treatise are taken, are in every case mentioned, and every word, in addition, has it* corres- ponding number, either in the author's own experience or in the testimony of others, at all times open to public inspection and investigation. The preparation of the Forty Pills, or a quantity sufficient for three weeks use, will not cost those who prepare it for themselves more tha.n 75 cents. The Bean may be procured from the celebrated herbalists, James' Market. But where it is desirable to avoid the trouble, tho same quantity may be procured from the author at an additional cost of 25 per cent., or for One Dollar, which amount may be remitted tolStiF'J'-TON St., Krooklvn, New York. Letters complaining of disappointment in the action of the drug, as pur- chased from country druggists, are constantly arriving, and frequeutly accom- panied with samplos of the vile trash, sold for the pure and unadulterated Extract.* Hence the great object with invalids desirous of giving the Ignatia a fair trial, should be at all times to procure a genuine article ; and this the author has no hesitation in saying they will stand but little chance of pro- curing unless they take the trouble to prepare for themselves, send direct to Fulton Street for a supply, or obtain it from some respectable druggist who has been appointed for its sale ; and even then, tho purchaser should be careful to see that the author's name and signature appears on the Wrapper and Label which is now affixed to every box of the Pills, without which, none are genuuie, and to imitate which, is a felony. * With a view to protect the public against such disgraceful proceedings, it has been decided, that in future, all the Iguatia Pills prepared by his dispenser, shall be sold un.ler the appellation of "John M. Dag.nall's Ignatia, or Nkrvods Tills," and bear his own Signature on the Wrapper and Label affixed to each box ; and further, in order to enable all classes of society to avail themselves of the benefits which the genuine pre paration of the Ignatia is capable of conferring, that the pills shall in future be put up aa follows: 1 grain size, 20 in the box, > price m cents each# ^ « 40 " > 1 50 I priCe $1 each. 1 » 100 " S Hence the remittance of fifty cts. in Postage Stamps for the Smaller Box, or One Dollar for the larger, will be required, and applicants may depend on receiving supplies by the return mail 10 During tho use of the Ignatia the patient is advised to take as much exercise in the morning, before breakfast, as circumstances will permit; to use black in preference to green tea, and to take coffee, if coffee is used, only in the morn- ing, and then to take it in small quantities ; but cocoa or chocolate is better than either tea or coffee of any kind. Also to avoid the use of unnecessary stimulants, such as wine, liquor, ale, beer, &c. The term unnecessary is intended to refer to the constant taking or sipping of these preparations—a practice but too common with many nervous invalids. As ordinary beverages, they may all be used in moderation, according as each kind is found to agree best with the patient. The practice of taking opium or laudanum should never be adopted, it should be left off immediately, as no nervous invalid can ever be restored to health so long as the practice continues. An indulgence in snuff, and the consumption of tobacco, should also be avoided ; nothing injures the nervous system more than the habitual and constant use of large quantities of tobacco. Should the frequent use of opening medicines or enemas have been adopted through an habitually costive state of the bowels, it is advisable to discontinue all such appliances, as they will be found wholly unnecessary, the bowels usually becoming healthy or natural—acting once in twenty-four hours—by the eighth or tenth day after commencing the use of the Extract. But in the event of the Pills not removing the obstinately costive state of the bowels, nothing as an auxiliary will be found superior to taking daily, until they become regular, a table-spoonful of good Salad Oil, in a little warm milk, and eating after it a few prunes, tamarinds, or one or two figs, not failing at the same time, to solicit nature by retiring for a few minutes to the water- closet, punctually at a fixed time every morning. The oil is laxative, nourish ing, and restorative. The Pills do not render tho system liable to cold, hence bathing (if advised by a medical practitioner), may be proceeded with in any form during their use. Sometimes it occurs that an insurmountable objection, or absolute inability, exists to the swallowing of pills; but this difficulty may be easily overcome by dissolving a pill in two tea-spoonsfull of cold water, and taking the wbolo or half, as may be thought desirable. MW Many persons have written and requested John M. Daqnall, to state (he cause and symptoms of his own case of Nervous Debility, tho effects and virtues of the IGNATIA AMARA, etc First.—He would observe, the cause proceeded from Habitual Costiveness and too close Study, Sedentary Life, and the worst forms of Dyspepsia, Incessant Shakings, Nervous Headache, Sleeplessness, Palpitation of the Heart, Confusion of Thought, Blushing, Restlessness, Mental Inquietude, Determination of Blood to the Head, Silent Wretchedness, Reluctance to go into Society, Failure of Memory, etc., all followed and settled into Nervous Weakness and General Debility, which continued for many years, having bod the best professional men, and every known remedy used without affording permanent relief. He then directed his attention to a copy of Hill's Herbal, and tho properties of tho Ignatia Amara therein discovered, tho use of which restored strength and vigor to himself; and since, hundreds of debilitated individuals of both sexes, deemed past recovery by physicians of tho first eminence and respectability. and numbers of whom for the purpose of benefitting mankind have come for ward and personally attested upon oath, their wonderful release from acut« paius, and speedy recovery from inveterate complaints; for its reanimating powers exceed almost credibility; its fine rich Balsamic, Stomachic qualities, ts purification of the blood, and above all its complete invigoration of the Nervous System, whereby the whole faculties became restored to their proper power and functions, and the fallen fabric of life is raised up to beauty, con- sistency and duration, upon tho ruins of emaciated and premature decay, to Bound and pristine health. Secondly,—It enriched the blood without inflaming it; it braced without stimulating too violently the Nervous System; it freed and disburdened the viscera and other important organs; it removed obstructions and threw off viscid humours ; it strengthened the general habit and brought back tho mus- cular fibres to theiT natural and healthy tone ; it secured refreshing sleep, made the head clear and easy, the^spirits free, active and undisturbed ; aud whatever is calculated to produce in a considerable*degree all or any of these effects, must be under certain modifications and restrictions equally adapted for every species of decay. Thirdly,—It has also since its first introduction, been successful with young people who have the appearance and air of old age, who are pale, effeminate, benumbed, stupid, and even imbecile; whose bodies are become bent, whose legs are no longer able to support them, who have an utter distaste for every thing, or are totally incapacitated for the performance of its natural functions ; when the body is weakened, paleness, bodily decay and emaciation succeed, end the eyes sink into the head Lastly.__The virtues of the Iqnatia Amara, are daily demonstrated in eradicating the worst symptoms of Nervous Debility, establishing the fame of its certain success in those complaints which strike their roots so deep in the constitution, so fatally to the happiness of mankind ; in short, the laudable end of this remedy is the lessening of a great mass of human misery by the allevia- tion, relief and prevention of those grevious afflictions that arc in reality the secret foes of life, and which, while they so extensively surround us, call aloud for skill and interference for their extermination. CAUTION. Correspondents have constantly complained of the impositions practised upon them by retail and dispensing country chemists and druggists, when required to prcparo the Iqnatia Pills ; but until lately no very dangerous or unpleasant effects have followed their dishonest practices. Gonorally speaking, the effects produced by the compounds dispensed by theso gentlemen, wero such as left tho patient nothing the hotter, and but little tho worso for tho trial.* Recently, however, the most serious and dangerous consequences have resulted to some who,had boen so unwise as to place confidence in the assertions of these apparently respcctablo dispensers of physic ; and this has taken placo to such an extent, that the proprietor has received several dozen samples of tho spurious imitations of tho genuine preparation, accompanied by letters com- plaining of the imposition, and describing tho alarming symptoms and acute sufferings which followed the use of the pills. The-glaring dishonesty of theso transactions is also further indicated by tho fact, that no two of the samples so received are exactly alike, although each dispenser assured the purchaser " that tho preparation was a genuine articlo, and had been supplied by a most respectable wholesale New York house" Besides this, it may bo remarked, that not one among tho whole number of samples approaches either in color, taste, smell, or appearance to tho articlo which his disponser is now constantly in the habit of preparing. Really, one is at a loss to know at which to feel tho most disgust—tho frauduloncy of theso transactions, or the clumsiness of their execution. A very careful examination of these spurious preparations by gentlemen competent to form an opinion on the subject, lead to the conclusion, that tho whole, with ono or two exceptions, are formed of strychnine a3 a base, com- bined with bitters and aromatios. Tho latter are evident to tho tasto and smell; the former is indicated by analysis and tho horriblo effects produced upon the system by its use. It may also be mentioned, that although he has received letters from parties who had prepared their own pills, and acknowledging tho benefits resulting from the trial, ho has never received a single communication of the same char- acter from invalids of either sex, or under any circumstances, who had ven- tured to use the compounds so shamefully dispensed. t^~ In some instances the purchasers were even told that the " Extract had been procured direct from the author." He would beg leave, howevor, to assuro the public, that in no instance whatever, has ho ever supplied a single particlo of tho Extract to these gentlemen, or to any druggist, apothecary, or member of the medical profession.