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1 
I /  OBSERVATIONS
ON MANY OP THE ACTIVE
MEDICINAL  SUBSTANCES
VEGETABLE  KINGDOM;
ESPECIALLY IN RELATION TO THEIR
COLLECTION, PRESERVATION, AND PREPARATION
            FOR USE.
Not  ^ubltsfjeU.
**>,
       BOSTON:
PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON,
       5, Water Street.
           1864. 
av
efu-
 1664-
pti/m  /g0,  e^gi^Z^ ,^n0. £,
^ 
MEDICINAL  SUBSTANCES
                       OF THE

VEGETABLE    KINGDOM.
The  country  practitioner of  medicine  should qualify
himself to act in the double capacity of physician and
apothecary.   It is not necessary that he should  study
and make himself fully acquainted with all the duties
of the dispensary, or to become master of  many  shop-
manipulations, which are, at this day, considered essen-
tial to the city dispenser of medicines.   He need not
learn to gild his pills ;  to fold his  powder-potions  in
chartulas of an exact length, breadth, and thickness;  to
enclose each acrid, balsamic dose in capsules of gelatine ;
or to compound the popular perfumes and  skin-beauti-
fying lotions, which, at the present time, constitute  an
important item  in  the  sales  and profits  of the city
apothecary.   But the  country physician should  learn
all the great truths of  the Materia Medica, and under-
stand the leading principles of pharmacy, as well as the
thoroughly educated apothecary.
   The  physician's knowledge  of chemistry, which has
become an important branch of medical education, will 
4
MEDICINAL  SUBSTANCES  OF
enable  him to determine the purity of those medicines
which  result from chemical  combinations ;  but  this
branch  of his professional training will afford him little
assistance  in  ascertaining the nature of those  simple
medicinal remedies which are derived from the vegeta-
ble kingdom.   He should be able to decide, when  he
purchases  his barks, roots,  seeds, flowers, and fruits,
his cinchona,  ipecacuanha, colchicum, arnica, and  colo-
cynth,  whether  they have been  well  cured,  and  are
in their full virtue.  He should,  moreover, learn  how
to preserve  them, as far as  possible,  in  their entire
activity;  and before  they begin  to  decline  in their
efficiency,  from the changes of temperature,  the  hu-
midity of the atmosphere, the contact of air, the influ-
ence of light, or  from  any  circumstances  which  are
incident to age,  he should  understand  how  he  may
secure their full powers by a form of  preparation which
will extract and retain their entire medicinal  qualities
for an indefinite length of time, if such form of  prepa-
ration exists, and especially if it may be considered  an
eligible  form for extemporaneous use.
   But  the  country physician,  who  studies two  pro-
fessions, at an increased  expense of  time and  money,
will  receive,  in after-time, a substantial compensation
for the additional labors which were required of  him in
his preparatory course of study.   If  he  selects his own
simples  with good judgment, and  compounds  them in
a  skilful  manner, he will  understand their  effective
powers; and, should his  prescription fail of producing
the expected  result, he  feels  certain wherein  he  has
made a mistake.   He knows it is not on account  of any 
THE  VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
5
diminished power in his recipe, but that it results  from
the imperfect estimation he had formed of his patient's
disease,  or  of  his  constitutional  susceptibilities.  He
studies  his  case  again with  the  devotion  of  all his
powers;  and, after making a new diagnosis of the disease,
he alters his prescription to meet its wants.
   The city physician is relieved  from  the necessity  of
studying  a twofold profession.  He  usually relies on
the ability and fidelity of  his  apothecary;  and, in the
large  cities, he may ever be able to select those in whom
he has full confidence.   But embarrassments sometimes
attend city practice, which  the country physician, on
account of his peculiar course of preparation, does not
experience.  The city practitioner occasionally  orders
a  recipe, which is compounded by the apothecary, and
which is taken by the patient in the prescribed quantity
and at  specified intervals,  but which fails  to produce
any visible effect.   When  cases  of this kind happen,
he is necessarily in doubt whether he misapprehended
the requirements of his patient, or  whether his  pre-
scription  failed on account of the impaired condition
of  some  of its constituent parts, or from  a possible
error in  its  composition.  His mind is turned  alter-
nately in  two directions;  viz., to the  quality of the
recipe he has ordered,  and  to the character  of the dis-
ease,  together with  the constitutional requirements  of
his patient.  He  hesitates  between two contingencies;
while the country physician,  who is  his own  apothe-
cary,  is  relieved from  this  dilemma  of his professional
brother, and left entirely free to  consider his patient's
case.
                          1* 
6
MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES  OF
  Most medicines are administered in combination, or
in compounds;  and this  is  more especially true of
those which are usually employed  in  chronic diseases.
By  compounds,  in these cases, we  do not mean  those
which result from the union, in a  given degree, of an
acid with a metal, with an alkaline earth, or a vegetable
substance, but an admixture of  simple remedies in the
form of powders, jfills, infusions, syrups,  decoctions, tinc-
tures, &c.  The metallic compounds, the neutral  salts,
the  sulphates, muriates,  and carbonates of  vegetable
basis, are principally prescribed  in  acute diseases; and
the  simple  or vegetable remedies sometimes per se,
but  more generally in  composition, in complaints of a
chronic nature.  This seems to be the rule  of practice,
although there  are  many exceptions  to its operation,
and  perhaps  too many  for  the  confirmation  of the
rule.
  The  simple  or  natural medicines,  described  and
recommended in our present systems of Materia Medica,
by  far  exceed  in  number the artificial remedies, or
those which  result from  the  operations of chemistry;
and it is much more difficult  to obtain these vegetable,
medicinal substances  of the highest quality, and to pre-
serve them in their full efficiency, than it is to procure
and  preserve the  best chemical  compounds.    Com-
plaints  are made,  and no doubt  with reason, of  the
adulterations  of mercurials, anlimonials, and other pre-
parations,  more especially the  metallic; but the sub-
stances  added  to  increase the weight of  these  are
usually in themselves inoperative :  yet, as there seems to
be  no rule in the extent of these admixtures or adulte- 
THE  VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
7
rations,  physicians  are frequently embarrassed  by  a
knowledge of the uncertain  strength of these articles.
But such  as these remedies are, when they come from
the  laboratory of the  manufacturer, such  they remain,
with comparatively slight  care, for a long period.   The
physician  who  orders a new supply of calomel or emetic
tartar, and puts the same into well-stopped bottles,  and
properly secured from the effects of light,  after having
once ascertained their strength, may thereafter prescribe
of  the  same  with  confidence  as  to  their  operative
powers, even to the end of his supply.   The writer once
had  occasion  to give  an  antimonial  emetic from the
few grains that remained  in the  phial of a physician
who had   retired from  practice  thirty years  previous
to that  period; and  the operation  which followed, was,
in  all respects, effectual and characteristic.
   But there is no such permanence in  the strength  of
our vegetable  medicines.    When  obtained  and  cured
in  a proper manner,  some decay of  their  virtue  at
once becomes incident to them, even under the greatest
care; and, without  such  care,  the early  loss of their
active  properties  is  nearly  certain.*   Nor  is  this by
any means the whole difficulty in the case.  The plant
   * ,4 Some remedies, and generally those of a vegetable nature, lose much
of their activity by age, and therefore require to be given in large doses to
produce the desired effect.  Hence, where a physician has been induced
to increase the usual dose of some article, which in a recent or unaltered
state is active, and  even  poisonous, but  from age, or other  deteriorating
causes, has become weakened, serious accidents may occur if he persist in
administering  the same  quantity of a parcel  which is fresh, or which
is obtained  from another apothecary." — Thomas's Universal Formulary,
p. 62. 
8             MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES  OF
from which  the bark is obtained, or  from which  the
root is taken, should neither be too old nor too young.
In other words, the several parts should be taken when
such parts are in  their full vigor.   The  season of  the
year is to be consulted in many cases.  The roots should
never be gathered while  the  stalk is in full  growth;
for,  in such  cases, the  life, or the peculiar quality of
the radical portion  of the plant, ascends, in a modified
state, to the  stalk,  leaves, flowers, and  fruits, or  seeds.
The quality  of the soil in which the plant grows should
also  be considered.  Thus hellebore and  skunk-cabbage
should be taken from low and  wet ground, which seems
to be  their native' and  proper soil.   When these grow
in the higher and  warmer soils which  border the damp
meadows, they develop a larger stalk and leaf; but  the
roots lose, in a great degree, their peculiar fetid  and
medicinal  character.  On  the  other  hand,  snakeroot
in its  several  varieties, valerian,  gentian, &c,  attain
their highest medicinal  perfection in a higher,  warmer,
and  richer soil; and if perchance they should be taken
from land of an opposite  character, where they some-
times  grow,  the specific odor  and  quality of the  roots
would  be found to be  comparatively  weak  and inef-
ficient.*
  * ,4 Some herbs, in their infancy, abound most with odoriferous matter, of
which others yield little or none until they have attained a more advanced
age. . . .  The roots of some of  our indigenous plants, whose juice is,
during the summer, thin and watery, if wounded early in the spring, yield
rich balsamic juices, which, exposed to a gentle warmth,  soon concrete
into solid gum-resins. ... In open exposures, dry soil, and fair, warm
seasons, aromatic plants prove stronger and more fragrant, and fetid ones
weaker in smell, than in the opposite cases.  To these particulars, there- 
THE VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.
9
   But it is not  enough to collect from the plant in its
proper  age,  from  a  congenial soil, and  at the right
season.   The  articles  thus gathered  should be  cured
or dried in such a manner as to preserve, in the highest
possible  degree, their full  medicinal virtues.   They
should be dried sufficiently to prevent subsequent mould,
when properly packed in casks or boxes, but not  so far
beyond that degree as to render them friable, inodorous,
and  thus  comparatively valueless.   The drying  should
be  effected  in  a  temperature  not  over  80°, and  in
the   shade.    If  slippery-elm  bark — sometimes  em-
ployed  in  medicine  on  account  of  its  mucilaginous
quality,  and  frequently as  a luxury, on account of  its
fore, due regard ought to be had in the collecting of plants for medicinal
use. ... It may be proper also to observe, that the different parts are often
very different in quality one from another.  Thus the bitter herb worm-
wood rises from an aromatic root, and the narcotic poppy-head includes seeds
which have no narcotic powers." — New (London) Dispensatory, p. 4.
   44 Let the annual roots be gathered before they shoot out their stems and
flowers, —the  biennial principally  in  the autumn of  that year in which
the seeds are first sown; and the perennial when the leaves begin to fall,
and therefore,  generally, in the autumn.  Having first washed away the
filth, and cleared them of their withered and  corrupt fibres, hang them
up in a shady, airy place*  that they may dry moderately.  Let the thicker
be cut in  pieces, either lengthwise or transversely;  preserving the corti-
cal part, and rejecting the  pith.  Those roots which lose their virtue by
drying should  be kept covered with dry sand.  Let herbs be gathered at
the time of their vigor, when they shoot into perfect leaves, but before the
flowers are opened.  Of some, it is best to take only their flowering tops-
Let them be dried as directed above with respect to roots.  Let flowers be
gathered when they are moderately expanded, upon a clear day, before
noon.  Let seeds be gathered when ripe, and beginning to dry, before  they
fall spontaneously.   Woods for medicinal uses are best felled in the winter;
and this is the best season for shaving off the bark."—Pharmacopeia Univer-
salis, Lotul.; second edition, p. 448.                ^
    * The Italics, generally,  in our extracts from various authors, are our own. 
10
MEDICINAL  SUBSTANCES OF
 pleasant taste, fragrant odor,  and  crisp  substance — be
 taken from the tree in the warmest season  of the year,
 and exposed to the sun's rays, it dries quickly, turns of
 a dark color, loses much  of its pleasant odor, becomes
 tough and stringy, and  is  of little  market value.
   Valerian root, taken from the earth and dried  in the
 sun,  loses a  large share  of its  essential and  valuable
 volatile qualities, and soon becomes friable, tasteless, and
 worthless.*
   But we need not speak of the proper method of curing
 the simples of the Materia Medica singly, because a general
 rule applies to them all when under  collection for medi-
 cinal purposes :  viz., that they should be dried  in the
 shade, in a moderate atmospheric  temperature;  so .far
 dried as to prevent the danger of rust or of decomposi-
 tion,  and still not over-dried so as to  deprive  them  of
 their active  properties.   This rule is important  in all
 cases, but more  especially so  with  those  articles  whose
 principal virtue resides in their volatile oil and resinous
juices.   When these substances are properly dried, they
 should be packed in such a manner as to protect them
 as far as possible from the contact of air, and  from the
influences of an atmosphere alternately damp and  dry.f
   * 4< The root [valerian], if not taken up at a proper time and properly
preserved, becomes inert." — Parr's Medical Dictionary.
   t 44 The proper preservation of medicines is an object of the greatest
importance to the apothecary.  The  aromatic gums and resins should be
kept secluded from the light, and, as much as possible, from the air, in per-
fectly dry rooms.   Boxes and barrels, with  tight covers, will serve  for
holding barks and roots after they have been thoroughly dried.  Roots and
bulbs, such as liquorice and squills, which are  to be preserved fresh, should
be buried in dry sand.  Leaves and  flowers should be kept in dry canis- 
THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
11
   But the greatest care  that can  be bestowed in  the
preparation of vegetable medicines, and  for  their pre-
servation to the period of their  use,  is  too  often ren-
dered unavailing by subsequent contingencies in passing
through  several hands  before   their  prescription  for
immediate  use.  Even  if these articles are properly
cured and packed, they  are, of  necessity,  frequently
opened by the  druggist, and  sold in small quantities to
the apothecary and physician ; and the bales, casks, and
boxes thus opened cannot in  all cases be at once closed
and properly secured.  And, with all possible  care in
this respect, these frequent exposures  to atmospherical
influences cause the work  of  deterioration to  commence.
The apothecary and physician keep their supplies thus
purchased  in  drawers,  or perhaps  in  paper  parcels,
which  are frequently necessarily exposed  to  the  air
and light;  and the inevitable consequence is,  that the
contents of their shops,  thus kept, must be gradually
declining  in  value  and  efficiency.   We do not here
speak of powders, which  may  be better preserved in
well-secured  "specie-bottles,"  or  of liquids  kept in
"glass stoppers."
   Let us illustrate our  meaning  by a  few examples.
Chamomile flowers  come  to  us  in large  casks, closely
tere. . .  . The apothecary should frequently examine the condition of every
article;  and, on the slightest appearance of mouldiness  or the attack of
insects, should clean them, and again dry them in a heat from seventy to a
hundred degrees.  This examination and redrying, which should be made
several times in the year in respect to the articles which are most likely to
change, should especially be made early in the spring, of all roots, barks, and
leaves in the shop; and those of which the sensible properties have become
impaired should be rejected."— United-States Dispensatory, p. 753. 
12
MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES OF
pressed,  and  secured from  the action  of air.   When
they are first opened, they are entire in their several
parts, bright, highly aromatic to the taste, and of strong
though grateful odor.  A part of these flowers are soon
removed from these large packages, weighed, and put in
small casks and bundles, from which they are transferred
to the drawers of the apothecary or  physician.   They
are still very handsome and  strong-scented, still  nearly
perfect in their  form : but after a few months, or  even
weeks, the color becomes dull,  the flavor less obvious,
the form of the flower  less distinct ;  the process of
decay still going on, until they partially  fall into dull
gray  powder,   and  lose  all their medicinal  activity,
except, perhaps, a part  of  their  astringency.
   Sarsaparilla, which has been well cured and packed,
comes to our market in flexible roots, tough,  and  even
withy.  If the  root be split, it  appears  bright and en-
tirely  sound;  and, if a  small  quantity be chewed, it
leaves in the mouth a peculiar acrid taste.   If the  roots
be sent to market before they are properly dried,  they
are less flexible; and, when opened, the  interior looks
dull,  and perhaps slightly mouldy, and the  taste  is less
acrid.  But the good root, perfectly dried and however
carefully  kept, gradually  deteriorates,  and  at  last
becomes brittle, tasteless, and worthless ; still appearing
externally very much as it did in its best condition.*
   In view of these facts, can we wonder why different
opinions have been so long entertained of its virtues by

   * '4 The sarsaparilla of the shops is very apt to be nearly or quite inert,
either from age, or from having been obtained from an inferior species of
smilax." — U. S. Dispensatory, p. 638. 
THE VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.
13
the members of the medical profession ?  Many physi-
cians esteem it of great value, and speak with the strong-
est confidence of  its  efficacy  in  some  of the  most
deep-seated and  obstinate diseases  for which  they are
called to prescribe.  The " United-States Dispensa-
tory " devotes six pages to the history of this plant, and
the description of its medicinal virtues; and, in certain
past periods, it has been in great favor and in extensive
use.  At other periods, medical men have almost una-
nimously pronounced it worthless. The " New Ameri-
can Dispensatory " disposes of sarsaparilla in  nineteen
lines; declaring it" a very inert, mucilaginous substance."
Dr. Cullen condemns it almost in a single  line; pro-
nouncing it " wholly inert."   In Pereira's " Materia
Medica," seventeen royal octavo pages are given to its
history and  the proof of  its virtues.   Thus,  for two
centuries, it has fluctuated  among medical men,  from the
highest favor and most general use to the most  manifest
disfavor and neglect.
   How can this  conflict of  opinion in relation to the
worth of sarsaparilla  as  a remedial agent,  which has
existed  ever since the days of the celebrated Vesa-
lius,  be explained ?   Easily, and in  this wise :  Those
who have used it with success have taken the root in its
best form, have prepared it in a  way to secure its full
strength, and  administered  it  with proper adjuvants.
Others, who  consider it unworthy a place in the Materia
Medica,  have had  the  misfortune to employ the  roots
whose virtue had departed;   or perhaps have taken
them  in  their virtue, and,  by their  mode of preparing
                          2 
14
MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES OF
them for use, have unconsciously dissipated their active,
most valuable principles.   A  similar  conflict  of senti-
ment would exist among medical men, if a part of the
profession were to give opium, pure and nearly as inspis-
sated about the incision of the poppy-head, and another
portion should use the extract made from the capsules;
or  if  some  were  to form their  grain-pills from the
mass  of  the  best  commercial opium, while  others
should insist on taking the  same  kind of opium,  and
preparing it for use by torrefying it on a hot shovel!
   Perhaps  there  is  no article  of  the Materia Medica.
which requires more care  in its gathering,  cure,  and
preservation, than colchicum root.   When  administered
in its full powers, there can be no doubt of its being an
active, remedial agent.   The  bulb is often taken  and
used in the fresh state in the countries where it is pro-
duced ; and, when taken from  the earth  at  the proper
time, its taste is bitter, hot,  and acrid.   But it is a very
difficult matter to  dry the root, without the escape of its
volatile and  active properties.   Sometimes the bulb  is
partially dried in the shade, in the temperature of the
atmosphere, and  packed in  dry sand, in which it  is
imported into  this  country.   In this way,  its efficacy
is often  preserved for a considerable time.   At other
times,  the  root  is  imported in  a  thoroughly dried
state,  appearing bright and sound,  but which is nearly
inodorous, tasteless,  and inert.*   The testimony in rela-
  * 4l The medicinal virtue of the bulb [colchicum] depends much on the
season in which it is collected. Early in the spring, it is too young to have
fully developed its peculiar properties ; and, late in the fall, it has become 
THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.
15
tion to the worth of this medicine is as conflicting as in
the case last named.   One person (Kraft) declares that
he ate whole bulbs, without experiencing any inconve-
nience ;  and  it is stated, that, in some countries,  the
peasants  use  it  for food  when  collected  in autumn.
On the other hand, it is declared that there is abundant
testimony  of its highly irritating  and active medicinal
character.   Like  sarsaparilla,  it is at one  time  a most
popular remedy;  and, at another period, its  reputation
subsides into  disuse  and   general disesteem.   It  was
used by the  ancients as a diuretic, and in cases of gout.
Storck revived  its use- in more modern times.   He
recommended it as a diuretic in dropsy, and an expecto-
rant in  asthma;  and, for another period, it had a high
reputation for these complaints.   But its uncertain ope-
ration again  led  to its general abandonment and seem-
ingly  final disuse.  It was again brought into notice
by a  London  physician,   Dr. Want, who  attempted
to  prove  that it  was  the  active  ingredient  in  the
cau medicinalc d'HussoN, — a  very  celebrated  pre-
paration  for  the  cure of the  gout.   It  has,  during the
present century,  been  fluctuating in  favor.   By  some
physicians, it has been  highly commended  for the cure
of  gout, rheumatism, neuralgia, &c.;  and by others it
has been pronounced  utterly inert.   When colchicum
exhausted by the nourishment it has afforded to the new plant.  The proper
period for its collection is from the early part of June, when it has usually
attained perfection, to the middle of August, when the offset appears.  It is
probably owing, in a great measure, to this inequality in the colchicum at
different seasons,  that entirely opposite opinions have been given by differ-
ent authors of its  powers."— U. S. Dispensatory, p. 256. 
16
MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES  OF
root, in its full powers, has been judiciously adminis-
tered, it has, undoubtedly, proved a most efficacious and
valuable  remedy  in  many complaints,  and  on  this
account has, in repeated instances, risen to great favor ;
but the frequent use of the  inert root,  and the conse-
quent disappointment of the physician in its employment,
has thus  far prevented its  lasting popularity with the
profession.
   If  the  preservation of vegetable medicines  in  their
simple forms be a matter of so  great difficulty, it be-
comes very important to learn  how they can be taken
in their best estate, and be compounded or prepared  in
such  a manner as will  permanently secure their full
activity; due regard being given in such preparations to
the forms in which they should be administered to the
patient.*
   Some prescriptions will disturb  the patient  by their
unpleasant taste or odor, while other forms of the same
remedy will prove in no wise offensive, and may con-
duce to his immediate  comfort  and composure.   Thus,
powdered aloes,  or jalap,  given in  any of the  usual
extemporaneous vehicles, may create a disturbance and
disgust in the system, in some cases not easily removed ;
when the same substances, in the pill  form, might  cause
no unpleasant sensation.   If an infusion or decoction of
  * ,4 The form in which medicines are exhibited is often an object of con-
siderable importance.  By variation in this respect, according to the nature
of the medicine, the taste of the patient, or the condition of the stomach,
we are frequently enabled to secure the favorable operation of remedies,
which, without such attention, might prove useless or injurious." — United-
Slates Dispensatory, p. 1318. 
THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
17
Canada snakeroot be taken, even on its first preparation,
but more especially after the menstruum has lost the aroma
of the root and becomes vapid, as it  frequently  does
in a  few hours, it will, in nearly every  case, prove
more or  less offensive to the  taste,  and may provoke
nausea and vomiting.  If, instead of the infusion, we
should give a teaspoonful of the tincture, prepared  from
the fresh root, it would almost  invariably prove pleasant
to the taste, tend to relieve nausea (if any existed at the
time), and produce, to some  extent, its characteristic,
cordial,  and stomachic effect.
   But forms of prescription should not  be made agreea-
ble to the taste, at the expense of the essential qualities
of their component parts.  The great desideratum with
the physician is to ascertain the best manner of  com-
posing his recipes so as to secure the entire virtues of
their constituent parts, and  in such a  manner  as will
permanently preserve their full efficiency for " an indefi-
nite time ; " and thus to have in reserve compounds not
subject to decline in force, instead of simple vegetable
remedies,  so liable, even under the greatest  care, to
early  decay.   This  consideration  being  paramount
with him,  he  may study  eligibility  of forms as  far
as  the  more  important  consideration   of  efficacy may
admit.
   We will now consider briefly some of the authorized
preparations of vegetable medicines for immediate use.
The  most  common formula are infusions, decoctions,
syrups, inspissated juices, fluid extracts, powders,  pills,
and tinctures.
   " Infusion is  a term employed in pharmacy to denote
                          2* 
18
MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES OF
the  operation in which water,  on remaining  for  some
time on vegetable matter, dissolves part of it; and also
to express the preparation which results from that ope-
ration." — Neio American Dispensatory.  Thus we have
infusion of bark, foxglove, gentian, rhubarb, snakeroot,
valerian, senega, &c.   These infusions are sometimes
made with cold water,  and  sometimes  by  the use  of
boiling water.   Those  made with  cold water,  with  a
very few  exceptions,  extract only  to a slight extent
the active principles of the substances employed.   Boil-
ing water dissolves more of the albumen, mucilage, and
starch, but leaves almost untouched  the essential  medi-
cinal  qualities  of  articles  submitted  to its  influence.
Infusions very soon change, and become  offensive.  Some-
times, in warm weather,  they are rendered  vapid and
nauseous in a very few hours  after  they are prepared.
In their best  condition,  they are of  little use;  and so
general  is  the  acknowledgment by the profession of
this  fact, that it  appears somewhat surprising that  their
numerous forms are still preserved  in  our  modern dis-
pensatories.*
  Decoctions  differ from infusions simply, as the former
   * 4l The infusion [of medicines in water] is, however, liable to one very
great objection, — that it cannot be kept, even a very short time, without being
decomposed or spoiled:'' —American New Dispensatory, p. 186.
   44 As infusions do not keep well, especially in warm weather, they should
be made extemporaneously and in small quantities. . .  . The propriety of
their introduction into the Pharmacopoeia has been doubted:' — United-States
Dispensatory, p. 1007.
   44 Infusions ... are exceedingly liable to decomposition; and, conse-
quently, cannot be kept long without spoiling."— Thomas's Universal For-
mulary, p. 520. 
THE  VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
19
term implies.   Vegetable substances are boiled in water
for a longer or shorter period, with a view of extracting
their  active principles for medicinal use.  These decoc-
tions are generally employed to form the bases or active
properties of syrups; and the continued boiling,  some-
times ending in evaporation, or " simmering down," to
produce the extracts, solid and fluid.   In all our Phar-
macopoeias, there are  many directions  given for  decoc-
tions, notwithstanding  the frequent confessions  running
through their pages, that they very imperfectly extract
and  retain the most valuable medicinal  agencies con-
tained  in  vegetables.   The  remedial virtues  of the
vegetable kingdom reside almost wholly  in  the aroma,
essential oil, resin and  tannin,  contained  in  the  several
valuable  varieties  of that  department  of medicine.
Boiling water, in time, disengages these principles, and
dissipates them in the rising vapor.   None of them are
permanently retained by the  water, except  the  tannin,
or astringent principle ;  and this, as it will  appear, ge-
nerally in a state of at least partial decomposition.  The
extracts which are retained by decoction  are mucilage,
starch,  albumen, salts,  &c.;  none of which are esteemed
as strictly medicinal.
   It is  difficult to understand why these numerous forms
of decoctions are still preserved in the books, which so
freely acknowledge  the  utter  failure  of  such prescrip-
tions to extract and preserve the virtues of the medici-
nal substances  enumerated in our systems of Materia
Medica.  Still, increasing numbers of  this form of pre-
paration are  given  in our modern dispensatories, and
some of them printed on the same page in  which their 
20
MEDICINAL  SUBSTANCES  OF
eligibility and propriety are denied.*   The  dose of de-
coctions varies greatly, as prescribed at  the  conclusion
of each formula,  and as   stated  by different  authorities.
The  dose  sometimes  ordered,  if  the  preparation  dis-

    * The effect of boiling differs from  that of infusion in some material
particulars.  One of the most obvious differences is, that  as the essential
oils of vegetables, in which their  specific odor resides, are volatile in the
heat of boiling water, they exhale along with  the watery steam, and thus
are lost to the remaining decoction:'' — New [London] Dispensatory, p. 278.
    44 In the heat of boiling water, the essential oil of vegetables, in which
their virtue generally resides, is dissipated. .  . . The grosser parts of many
substances are only extracted by boiling. . .  . Boiling water extracts, for
instance, the rougher and disagreeable parts of chamomile  and  the carduus
benedictus."— Parr's Med. Dictionary, art. 4I Coctio."
    . . . " And as plants lose by boiling all that which goes  off  by heat, in
the form of vapor, with 212° of heat, all those plants are unfit for this opera-
tion whose virtue required  is volatile oil. . .  . Those whose virtues reside
in a more fixed matter (astringency) are  fit for decoction. . . . Let it,  how-
ever, be carefully observed, that  the  peculiar virtue of a plant, which can
only reside in its presiding spirit, does not always show  itself by  some
remarkable odor, fragrance, or aromatic taste.   On the contrary, it may
happen that the spirit may be extremelj' active, without remarkably affect-
ing the senses."—Pharmacopaia  Universalis (Land.), p. 510.
    44 By boiling vegetable substances  in water, the active matter is  more
abundantly dissolved than by infusion.  The  preparation thus  obtained  is
called a decoction. . . . Though a large portion  of matter  is dissolved by
the water by this mode of preparation, yet it cannot always be advantage-
ously employed.   Whenever the virtue of the  substance  subjected to  it
depends, in whole or in  part, on any volatile principles, they are necessarily
injured  by being thus dissipated. . . .  Many  vegetables  suffer injury by
boiling, even when this cannot be  ascribed to the dissipation of their vola-
tile parts." — American New Dispensatory, pp. 495, 496.
    44 Decoction, or boiling, is sometimes  employed in extracting the virtues
of plants; but it is often disadvantageous, as most of the proximate princi-
ples of vegetables are altered by it, especially if long continued." — United-
States Dispensatory, p.  762.
    44 All vegetable substances are  not proper objects for decoction.  In many,
the active principle is  volatile at a boiling heat; in others, it undergoes
some change unfavorable to its activity;  and,  in  a third set, is associated
with inefficient or nauseous principles.  . .  . Decoctions, from  the  mutual
re-actions of their constituents, as well as from the influence of the  air, are
apt to spoil in a short time." — United-States Dispensatory, pp. 899-900. 
THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.
21
solved and retained  the  full virtue  of  the ingredients,
would seem to be  objectionable; nay,  almost incompati-
ble  with  the   continued  vitality  of the  patient:  but,
weakened as they are by  this mode  of preparation, the
   44 By ebullition in water, the volatile constituents of vegetables are dissi-
 pated;  and hence, when these are the  active principles, the process is an
 objectionable one.   It is obvious that the saffron, in the decoctum aloes composi-
 tum; the sassafras, in the decoctum sarzm compositum; and the juniper-fruit,
 in the  decoctum scoparii compos., — are deprived of their volatile oils  by
 boiling; and therefore these preparations are, on that account, objectiona-
 ble."— Pereira's F.lements of Mat. Med., vol. i. p. 305.
   44 An objection has been taken to this [decoction of sarsaparilla], as well
 as to all other preparations of sarsaparilla, by boiling water.  An  infusion
 of sarsaparilla, says Souiseikax, which is odorous and sapid, loses its odor
 and taste by boiling for a few minutes.  These changes speak little in favor of
 the decoction." — Nouv. Traite de Pharm., vol. ii.  p. 168.
   44 With respect to bitters [by 4 bitters ' are meant the tonic principles in
 vegetables; see vol. ii., p. 39, of the authority cited below],  it is certain
 that decoction extracts more powerfully than infusion: but by dissipating any
 aromatic parts that are joined to the bitter, and by extracting  more of the
 earthy part, and what may be called a coarser bitter, decoctions are almost
 always  more disagreeable than infusions; and therefore what  we  call
 extracts, which are always prepared by decoction, are always less agreeable
 to the stomach than the  bitter substance.  It appears to me that decoction
 decomposes the substance of what is extracted; for it is seldom that decoctions
 do not,  upon cooling, deposit a part of what they had suspended before,  and
 that, also,  a matter different from the  entire substance. ... It is pretty
 certain  that bitters are never treated by decoction so as to  be either agreea-
 ble or very useful." — Barton's [Cullen's] Mat. Med., vol. ii. p. 49.
   . . .  " Many substances are injured or destroyed  by decoction, especially
 when their active principles are volatile, and when, during ebullition, chemi-
 cal changes take place, by which the active constituents are rendered insolu-
 ble or decomposed." — Thomas's Universal Formulary, p. 520.
  44 Decoction is sometimes employed in extracting the virtue  of plants;
but  it is often disadvantageous, as most of the proximate principles are al-
 tered by it." — United-States Dispensaloi-y, p. 762.
  . .  .  " Mais cette forme  [decoction] a  rinconvdnient  d'etre  ordinaire-
mcnt ddsagreable a la vue, et au gout: au reste on  ne s'en sert point dans
le cas urgens, parcequ'elle ne peut  pus  s'ex«5cuter avec  promptitude." —
 Encyclopedic des Sciences, 2>ar M. Diuehot. 
22
MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES  OF
greatest  danger  would  seem  to  be from the quantity.
Four pints a day of the  decoction of sarsaparilla, might,
as we think, offend a weak digestion.   We subjoin the
recipe in which this bulky dose is prescribed : —
   " R.  SarsajKtrill<i-root, cut in bits, two ounces.  Mace-
rate for a day in six pints of water ; after which, boil over a
gentle fire, in a double vessel, with  a closed lid,  .  . .  until
one-third or  one-half be evaporated.  Of this  decoction, the
patient is to  take very early, in  bed,  a  glass  that will hold
ten ounces:  what remains  serves for the rest of the day.
This course is to be continued for twenty days." — Pharmacop.
Universal (Lond.), p. 281.
   In the above  recipe, the directions are  to boil " in a
double vessel, with a closed lid," until the liquid should
be reduced to one-third or one-half, or until the six pints
should be evaporated to three or four pints.   However
the vessel may have been doubled, and the lid closed, one-
third at least of the water must be dissipated  in vapor;
and, with this vapor, all the essential virtues of  the sar-
saparilla will escape, as we think will be shown in the se-
quel.  Boiling " in a close vessel," or in any  other manner
in which the quantity of the menstruum is to be  reduced
by evaporation, amounts to the same thing as boiling in
an open vessel.   All the different and somewhat inge-
nious appliances which  have been made to  obtain the
most valuable  solutions by the agency of  boiling  have
failed of  answering any  valuable  purpose.   " Papin's
Digester"* was  an early contrivance to effect this ob-
  * 4l An instrument invented by Mr. Papin.  It consists of a strong ves-
sel of copper or iron, with a cover adapted to screw on with pieces of felt
or pasteboard interposed.  A valve, with a small aperture, is made in the 
THE  VEGETABLE KINGDOM.            23
ject:  but this mechanism has long been in entire disuse.
Boiling  in  vacuo is spoken of,  at  the present  day,
with some favor.  Let us  see, for a moment,  how this
would operate in practice.   If a strong, air-tight, metal-
lic  vessel  were  half  filled  with  water and  medicinal
substances, and the air should be withdrawn from the
upper half, that part would immediately fill with vapor,
upon the  application of heat,  which  should raise the
temperature of the liquid to the boiling-point, and there
would no longer be a vacuum.   Now, if this vapor be
withdrawn by the constant use of the pump, as has been
proposed, the volatilized essential virtues of the medici-
nal plants employed in the case would constitute a part
of the fluid thus removed.  It might as well have risen
in the vapor from an open vessel.   If the vapor be not
withdrawn during the process, the essential and valuable
qualities  of the plants would be decomposed  or de-
stroyed.  That such  would be the case, we think we
have shown by the  authorities already cited, even when
the  decoction has been made  in an open vessel, in a
temperature elevated only to 212° Fahrenheit.   How
much more  certain and  complete  would  be  the de-
composition with a  temperature  of  400° !   Admitting,
however, the possibility that any component essential
part might remain  in the decoction, in an unaltered
state, when withdrawn from the vessel, — a mere possi-
cover; the stopper of which valve may be more or less loaded, either by
actual weights, or by pressure from an apparatus, on the principle of the
steelyard. The purpose of this instrument is to prevent the loss of heat by
evaporation.  Water may be thus heated to 400° Fahrenheit." — Encyclopaedia
Americana. 
24
MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES  OF
bility indeed, — it would not mingle and remain in the
cold menstruum.   The volatile oil,  aroma and  resin,
the most valuable qualities of vegetable  medicines, will
not unite with water.
   Heat is the great thief of our vegetable Materia Medi-
ca.  Its external application  seems to be  fatal to the
internal life or active  force of all those  plants which
are most esteemed as  remedial agents.  This, we be-
lieve, may be considered as the rule.   There may  be
some  seeming, possibly real, exceptions to its opera-
tion ;  but they will not be found more than sufficient to
establish its correctness.  How explicit  and imperative
are our authorities to avoid heat in the cure  and pre-
servation of plants !  " Let them be  carefully dried  in
the shade, in a temperature of 70°,  or above; but in  no
case above 100°."  " When cured, let them be preserved
in a cool, dry place ; " &c.   Still, in the same authors,
how frequent are the  directions to  subject the roots,
barks, seeds, and flowers, thus collected  and preserved,
to a temperature of 212°, which some have recommended
should be increased even to 400°  !  With  few excep-
tions, all the book-rules for the preparation of decoctions,
syrups, and extracts,— and the prescribed forms of these
compounds are quite numerous, — require the boiling of
their several constituents in water;  which  boiling is  to
be continued until the water is reduced in measure from
one-third to one-half of the  quantity first taken.
   Heat is truly the thief  of the volatile and  essential
qualities of vegetable  medicines,  notwithstanding the
seeming contradiction presented  in  a very few instances.
Coffee, which may be claimed as  a medicine, is  prepared 
THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
25
for use by roasting.  But it is by no means certain that
coffee loses any of its essential strength by this process.
It does lose, by this heating, certain qualities not desira-
ble for table use.   Old coffee  loses in  weight,  and old
coffee requires less roasting.   The best solution  which
chemists have been able  to  give of  the effects of this
roasting is substantially as follows:  That the  aromatic,
volatile oils of raw coffee are in minute particles, in the
small cells of the berry, or seed, enveloped in a fatty sub-
stance, almost  or quite impermeable;  that the  roasting
dissolves and eliminates this tenacious  fat, and releases
these volatile  principles, which, being thus  released,
soon  pervade  the whole substance  of the  berry, and
cause it to increase in size ;  which enlargement of form
is the evidence that  the  roasting process  is completed.
This is the point of " bay-browning;"  and, if the roast-
ing  be  continued beyond  this  point, the flavor and
strength are weakened, and sometimes destroyed.   Thus-
it is evident that coffee  should  be withdrawn from  its-
" browning " as  soon  as its active principles are released
from their cellular confinement and diffused through the
substance of the berry, and before any of its valued pro-
perties are vaporized and lost*

   * " The aromatic, volatile oils of raw coffee are tenaciously retained by-
the fatty oil. They undergo alteration of property by the operation of
roasting. . . • The chemical  changes effected in coffee by  roasting require-
further investigation. ... If coffee be over-roasted, either by employing-
too high a temperature or by carrying on the process too long,  its flavor i&
greatly impaired." — Pereira's Elements of Mat. Med., vol. ii. p. 630.
   44 The most important principles [of coffee] are the caffeic acid, resem-
 bling, in its astringent character, the tannin of tea; ... and the fragrant,
 volatile oil, called caffeone.   This oil is distinguished by the microscope in
 minute drops, in the cells, or between the  outer membrane and the body
                             3 
26
MEDICINAL  SUBSTANCES OF
   The heat of distillation vaporizes the essential oils of
the mints and of other vegetable substances;  but  the
oils  thus volatilized no  sooner  rise  from the heat of
212° than  they pass  a condensing temperature, redu-
cing the  heat nearly  or  quite 150°, by which they are
brought  into  their  officinal, liquid form.  This rising
vapor  does  not  touch the atmosphere  for an  instant
— except the small portions of it which  are allowed to
escape  to prevent explosion — until after it takes  the
form of  oil,  and is removed from the  "receiver."   If
such  an exposure should be allowed, even for a moment
of time, there  is no known process — no  seeming pos-
sible  invention — by  which  the  vapor  could  be  re-
collected  and reduced to the form of oil, or be returned
to the menstruum in the " retort."  If once exposed to
the atmosphere,  the volatile  principle  is  instantly  dif-
fused  and lost.
   These  essential  oils, of the mints especially,  are not
necessary to  the  physician.   He  obtains,  although
not in  so concentrated a  form, all the virtues of these
simple  vegetable substances by  a tincture made from
the  fresh  or well-cured plants.   They are far  more
important to the confectioner than to the apothecary.
   Nor are  these  oils secure  from changes  induced

of the  seed. Roasting disperses this through the solid substance, and in  part,
or wholly, expels it, if carried too far." — New American Cyclopaedia.
  44 Coffee improves by age, losing a part of its strength, and thus acquiring
a more agreeable flavor." . . . It contains (among other things) 44 thirteen
per cent of  fatty matter, and fifteen of glucose. ... It loses [by roasting]
about twenty per cent of its weight: it acquires at the same time a peculiar
odor, entirely different from  the unaltered grains, and a decidedly bitter
taste. ... If the  roasting be too long continued, it  renders the coffee
unpleasantly bitter and acrid." — United-States Dispensatory, p. 1250. 
THE VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.
27
 by a moderate heat, and exposure  to  the  atmosphere.
 Heat and air are still their enemy.  The confectioner
 or the  apothecary  sometimes  opens a canister of the
 oil of peppermint,  which was imperfectly corked, and
 which,  perhaps, had stood on  a  shelf, next  a  brick
 wall  of  southern exposure, or near a  window admit-
 ting the  sun; and finds, instead of a delicately flavored
 essence  which  might have  cost him some  four  or
 five  dollars  the  pound,  a  mere  terebinthinate  oil,
 worth scarcely  as  many cents, apparently differing in
 no respects  from the turpentine distillations of North
 Carolina.   These  losses seldom occur twice to  the
 same individual.  They teach  a lesson too  expensive
 to be easily forgotten;  and  he  who has suffered once in
 this respect is  ever  thereafter careful to  place  his
 essential oils, especially the  mint oils, well secured from
 the air, and in the coolest place his premises afford.
   Water-baths  have been  recommended as possessing
 some advantages over decoctions made by an  open fire.
 " The water-bath is  to  be used in all cases in which a
 heat  above boiling  water  would  be injurious.   When
 a temperature above 212°,  and not exceeding 228°, is
 required, the water-bath may be filled with a saturated
 solution of common salt."
   Some have supposed and asserted, that the water-bath
possessed decided advantages over the  ordinary modes
of boiling;  but pharmacologists do not  generally  claim
this advantage.  The fact is, the vaporization  of water,
however  caused, is  substantially decoction.  If " eight
pints  of  liquid are  to be gently evaporated to twenty
ounces,"  one  hundred and  eight  ounces  of  the one 
28
MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES OF
hundred  and twenty-eight are to be dissipated by heat
in the  form  of  vapor;  and  thus all the  unfavorable
effects of  more rapid boiling are equally attendant on this
slower process of evaporation.*  In  fact, no substantial
advantages are  now claimed for the water-bath, except
that,  " in simmering down"  the decoction  to a  solid
extract, there is less danger of burning it.
   The  operation of heat  on the curative properties of
vegetable  substances  is  clearly  illustrated  from its
effects  on nux  vomica.   The  action  of this medicine,
when prepared in its full strength, is  specific  and  uni-
form.   In Pereira's " Materia  Medica," vol. ii. p.  538,
we read  as  follows : " On the vertebrata its effects are
very uniform, though it requires larger quantities to kill
herbivorous than carnivorous animals."  But we find, in
another current authority, that its operation  "is  very
uncertain."   The  " United-States Dispensatory " says,
page 479, " Nux vomica  may be  given in  powder, in
the dose   of  five grains, repeated three or four  times
a day, and gradually increased  till its  effects are  expe-
rienced.   In  this form,  however,  it is very uncertain ;
and fifty grains have been given with little or no effect!
It  is most  readily reduced  to  powder  by  filing  or
grating;  and the raspings may be rendered finer by first
steaming  them, then drying them by a stove-heat, and,

   * 44 Evaporation by means of the water-bath, from the commencement
of the process, is safer than the plan just mentioned [rapid boiling], as it
obviates all  danger of burning the extract: but, as the heat is not applied
directly from the fire, the volatilization of the water cannot go on so
rapidly; and the temperature being the same, or very nearly  so, when the
water-bath is kept boiling, there is greater risk of injurious  action from
the air."— United-Stales Dispensatory, p. 930. 
THE  VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
29
lastly, rubbing  them in  a mortar.   The  Edinburgh
College direct that  the  seeds should  be at first well
softened with steam; then sliced, dried,  and ground in
a coffee-mill."
   Pereira prescribes the commencing  dose at two or
three grains, and pronounces  its operation " very uni-
form."  The " United-States Dispensatory " orders five
grains,  but declares  its  effects to be "very uncertain;"
inasmuch as fifty grains have been given in  a single
dose, with  little or no  effect.
   What are we to think of such conflicting statements
in our medical authorities ?  Simply this : That the few
grains directed in the commencing dose are rightly stated,
and that  this is the dose which generally exhibits its
" uniform " effects, — perhaps with slight variations in
different constitutions, —provided when thus administered
it possesses its full activity;  and that the tenfold quantity,
which produced " little  or no effect," was destroyed by
steaming and stove-drying.   If the  attending physician,
in view of the failure of the fifty grains to produce  any
effect, should give another dose of half that amount,  dis-
pensed by another apothecary,*  who prepared  his pow-
der from the fresh nuts by " rasping " or  " grating," and
not by first  steaming to  a pulp, and then by stove-drying
or  torrefying, he would,  in  all probability,  have no
further occasion to  prescribe for  his patient.  Under
many of  the  present  prescribed  forms for preparing
medicines  for  immediate  use, how " very uncertain"
are  the instrumentalities frequently employed by  the
physician !
                    • See footnote, p. 7.
                           3* 
30
MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES  OF
  It is difficult  to  speak of  those  syrups which  are
regarded as strictly medicinal, and which are formed on
the basis  of watery extracts, made by heat, except in
close  connection  with  the  pharmaceutical operations
already noticed.   They are virtually decoctions,  pre-
served in  sugar: at any rate, the preservation of the
decoction  appears to be  the great end  in view;  although
an improvement  in the taste of the  compound is  sup-
posed  to be secured by the addition  of the sugar  and
the formation of the syrup.
   But syrups are very liable to ferment and decompose.
The quantity of sugar which should be added to a given
measure of liquid has never been determined and given
as a  rule in  the case.   The  books  say,  "About  two
pounds of sugar  are usually required for one pint of
liquid;"  and  perhaps this  direction is as explicit as
can be given.  Sugar  varies  in  its saccharine quality.
Some kinds are stronger in their sweetening properties
than others; and the variation in this respect adds to
the difficulty of  determining  the exact quantity to be
used.  If the sugar in  the syrup be deficient, fermenta-
tion ensues.   If  it be in excess, it is precipitated in the
crystalline form;  and these crystals, thus deposited,
exert an affinity upon the saccharine  matter still in  sus-
pension,  gradually  attracting  portions  of it,  until, at
last, fermentation ensues as surely as in  the case where
too small a quantity of  sugar entered into  the  composi-
tion of the syrup.
   Still, in face of all these difficulties  of  compounding
an exactly balanced  syrup,  and  the  certainty which
ensues of its  speedy decomposition  in  default of such 
THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
31
exact composition;  and,  further,  notwithstanding the
patent proofs, that, in the preparation  of the basis  of
syrups,  generally — namely, in  the decoction — all,  or
very nearly all,  of the  virtues  of the ingredients  em-
ployed  are dissipated and lost, — syrups have been the
most  popular  of  medicinal  prescriptions  for at  least
twenty-five  years  past.    In  this  statement, we allude
more particularly to those syrups which claim to include
the  full  virtues  of sarsaparilla.    Figures would  be
almost  tasked to  express the  number of bottles  of
" syrup of sarsaparilla " which have been sold since the
days of Swaim ;  and those who believe  that these com-
pounds, almost, if  not  quite, without  exception,  have
been utterly  inert, cannot  but be  astonished  at the
extent  of credulity through  which such an amount  of
worthless mixture has  been sold.*
   * 4t The compound syrups, if kept any time, are liable to various altera-
tions, depending on the nature and degree of care used in their preparation.
. . . When the sugar bears too small a proportion to the liquid, syrups are
apt to run into fermentation.  Even when the sugar is in proper proportion,
the change often takes place if the solution contain much amylaceous or
extractive vegetable matter.  Even when too much concentrated, they may
also undergo this change, from  a  part of the sugar being deposited in a
crystalline state; and the crystals, attracting the sugar necessary to the
preservation of the syrup, reduces its strength, and renders it liable to
the same change as though it was  originally too weak. . . . Various plans
have been devised to preserve syrups; but the best is, to prepare them only
in small quantities." — Thomas's Universal Formulary, pp. 519, 520.
   44 The medicated syrups are  liable to undergo various alterations. . .  .
Syrups which contain too little sugar are  apt to pass into the vinous fermen-
tation, in consequence of the presence of matters which act as a  ferment.
Those which contain too much  sugar deposit the same in the crystalline
state. . . . The want of a due proportion of  saccharine matter frequently
also gives rise to mouldiness, when the air has access to the syrup. ... It
is  obvious, that syrups which  depend upon a volatile ingredient, or one
readily changeable by heat [when once injured], cannot be restored to their 
32
MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES OF
   We shall confine our further remarks upon  this sub-
ject to an examination of the nature and quality of some
of the prescribed  forms  of syrup  of sarsaparilla ;  and
we herewith subjoin a recipe for  a simple form of the
same, taken from a current authority : —

                   " Syrup of Sarsaparilla.
             " Take of sarsaparilla, fifteen ounces.
              Boiling water, one gallon.
              Sugar, fifteen ounces.
   " Macerate the sarsaparilla in the water for twenty-four hours;
then boil down to four pints, and strain the liquor when hot; after-
wards add the sugar, and  evaporate to a proper consistence." —
London Dispensatory.

   The  Edinburgh  process  is  the  same  as  the above.
The Dublin College obtains, in the same manner, " four
pints of a concentrated, strained decoction; and prepares
a  syrup from  this,  according to the general  direction of
the college."—U. S. Dispensatory, p. 1152.
   In  the above formula,  we have the prescription for
the preparation of the simple syrup of sarsaparilla from
original condition.  At best, syrups are too apt to change; and various mea-
sures have been proposed for their preservation. . . . The best plan is to
make them in small quantities. . . .' Let the syrups be preserved in a place
where the heat does  not exceed fifty-five degrees.' — London Dispensatory.
It would be difficult to comply with such a  rule in this country." — U. S.
Dispensatory, p. 1144.
   44 As multitudes of distilled waters have  been compounded from mate-
rials unfit to give any virtue, so numbers of syrups have been prepared from
ingredients, which, in this form, cannot be taken in sufficient doses to exert
their virtues; for two-thirds of a syrup consist of sugar, and the greatest part
of the remaining third is an aqueous fluid." —New [London] Dispensatory,
p. 359.
   44 Syrups are seldom active medicines, but are principally designed to
render others pleasant." — American New Dispensatory, p. 505. 
THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
33
four dispensatories.  Here is the direction to " boil down "
from one gallon to  four pints;  and,  after adding the
sugar, it is to he further boiled or evaporated to a proper
consistence.  This boiling  will do all that can be done
by this process, either to extract and retain, or to dissolve
and dissipate, the  virtues of the root.   We feel author-
ized to say, from the evidence which may be  adduced,
and which we have in part already cited, that the entire
value of  the  root  will  be thus wholly  dissipated  in
vapor.   Nothing will be left in  the  " four pints," save
the  inoperative starch, mucilage, albumen,  salts,  and
possibly a slight portion of extractive tannin; the last
nearly destroyed in quality, if not entirely decomposed.
   But we desire to present evidence  in  this  case from
the  mouths of other  and more competent  witnesses.
By these,  we think,  we  shall prove that a compound
prepared  as directed above would  prove wholly inert
and worthless.   Considerable testimony, having an equal
application to  the  present case, was  adduced  in our
remarks upon  the  action  of  decoction upon  vegetable
medicines ;  and we  herewith make  further quotations
in the footnotes, having reference to the formula we are
now considering.*
   • ll This syrup is necessarily a weak, if not inert, preparation; the virtues
of the sarsaparilla being only partially extracted by water,  at least by the
quantity of the menstruum ordinarily employed, and being injured or de-
stroyed by boiling." —U. S. Dispensatory, p. 1152.
   11 The root [sarsaparilla], if good, when chewed, produces a disagreeable,
acrid taste in the mouth. . . . The root is efficient in proportion as it possesses
this acrimony. . . . The virtues, which are impaired by long  boiling, are ex-
tracted by alcohol." — U. S. Dispensatory, p. 636.
   44 The same result as to the superior efficacy of alcohol,  as above, as a 
34
MEDICINAL  SUBSTANCES OF
   Notwithstanding these admissions  of medical authors,
in some  cases seemingly constrained,  that the syrup of
sarsaparilla, made on  the basis of  decoction, is  inopera-
tive, and that diluted alcohol does extract and preserve
its virtues, we find no recipe for a  tincture of sarsaparilla
in any dispensatory we have examined.


   In the different editions of the  " United-States Phar-
macopoeia"  are  several  prescriptions for  a  compound
syrup  of sarsaparilla, — some of  them based  on a  de-
coction of the  root and  of the other  component parts;
and  others which  seem  to  partake,  especially  in  the
first  directions  for their  preparation,  of the nature of
a tincture.   The  following is from  the early editions
of the " Pharmacopoeia : " —

solvent for the acrid principle of sarsaparilla, has been obtained by the
French experimentalists." —Journal de Pharmacie [Soubeiran], xvi. 38.
   44 The activity of the root [sarsaparilla] is believed to depend on one
or more  acrid principles, soluble, to a certain  extent, in water, cold or hot,
and either volatilized or rendered inert by chemical  change at the temperature
of two hundred and twelve degrees [boiling water].   This fact appears  to be
demonstrated by the  experiments of PopE,t Hancock,! Soubeiran,$
Beral, and others. . .  . From sarsaparilla prepared in this way, I found
no sensible results upon any patient." — U. S. Dispensatory, pp. 906, 907.
   44Sarsaparillin is probably the principle on which sarsaparilla depends
chiefly, if not exclusively, for its medicinal powers."—American Journal
of Pharmacy, vol. iii. 553-679.
   M. Beral states that he has formed this sarsaparillin pure by distilling
a tincture of sarsaparilla made with very dilute alcohol.  4l In that case, it
must be  considered volatile;  and we can readily understand why sarsaparilla
suffers by decoction." — Am. Journal of Pharmacy, xii. 245.
   t  Transactions of the Medico-Cbirurgic Soc, Lond., xi 344.
   t  Transactions of the Medico-Botanic Soc., Lond —See also Phila.  Journal of
Pharmacy, vol. i. 295: " The observations of Dr. Hancock are entitled to much credit,
as he practised long in South America, in the neighborhood of the best sarsaparilla
regions."
   } Journal de Pharmacie, torn. xvi. 38. 
THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
35
             " Compound Syrup of Sarsaparilla.
  " Take of sarsaparilla, ground in coarse powder, two pounds.
    Guaiacum wood, rasped, three ounces.
    Hundred leaves roses, }
    Senna,              >- of each, two ounces.
    Liquorice root,      )
    Oil of sassafras,     )    .  „
            .           r each, five minims.
    Oil of anise,         )
    Oil of partridge-berry, three minims.
    Water, a sufficient quantity.
    Sugar, eight pounds.
   " Mix the five first  ingredients with three  pints of water, and
allow the mixture to stand for  twenty-four hours.   Then transfer
the  whole to an apparatus for displacement,* and pour on water
gradually, until one gallon of filtered liquor is obtained.  Evapo-
rate this to four pints.  Then add the sugar, and proceed to form the
syrup in the manner directed for syrups.  Lastly, having rubbed
the oils with a small portion of syrup, mix them thoroughly with the
remainder." — U.  S. Ph.

  The above recipe varies considerably from that for
the simple syrup,  previously  copied.   It is commenced
by a day's maceration in water ; then a quantity of water
is added, until,  by  " displacement," a  gallon  of filtered
liquor is obtained.   Thus far,  there is  a seeming differ-
ence  in  the two  preparations;  but  the difference is
merely technical.   Decoction or evaporation comes in at
last, and the liquor is  vaporized down to  four pints.
The slight extract  of  the  virtues of the  several ingre-
dients obtained  by  the maceration, together  with those
which remain in the  substances employed  before  the
evaporation, are all dissipated  by the boiling  which  fol-
* The process of percolation, or leaching. 
36
MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES OF
 lows;  and a  syrup thus  compounded is,  like the one
 previously  spoken of, wholly inert.   All the evidence
 before adduced to prove the worthlessness  of the pre-
 vious  syrup, applies, in  its full  force,  to this  last
formula.
   So strong has been the  conviction  of late, that vege-
 table syrups, prepared  by decoction  of  the compound
 medicinal substances in water,  are altogether  inopera-
 tive, that we  find  in some authors  a prescription for
 them  which  purports  to  partake of the  nature  of  a
 tincture.   The  primary boiling is omitted.   The  one
 we have copied above has given place to the following
 form, taken from the same work : —
             44 Compound Syrup of  Sarsaparilla.
          B " Sarsaparilla, bruised, two pounds.
              Hundred leaves roses, \
              Senna,              > of each, two ounces.
              Liquorice root.       J
              Guaiacum wood, rasped,  three ounces.
              Oil of sassafras,  ) „   .  _
              „.,  .  .       > ot  each, five minims.
              Oil of anise,     >
              Oil of partridge-berry, three minims.
              Diluted alcohol, ten pints.
              Sugar, eight pounds.
   " Macerate the first five ingredients in the alcohol for fourteen
days; express and filter.  Evaporate the  tincture on a water-bath
to four pints, filter, add the sugar, and form the syrup; then, hav-
ing rubbed the oils with a little of the syrup, mix well with the re-
mainder." — U. S. Pharm. and Thomas's Universal Formulary.
   If we  stay  the composition of  the above recipe at
the word  " filter," we shall have a  compound tincture of
sarsaparilla; which, on the supposition that all the  arti- 
THE  VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
37
cles submitted to the action of the diluted  alcohol were
of good quality, would undoubtedly prove efficient; and
which, if properly secured in  bottles, would remain in
full virtue  for an indefinite  period.   But  the  love of
heat, or the  mistaken estimation  of its powers  of  ex-
traction and concentration, must needs come in at last;
by  the operation of  which,  all that  was  good in  the
tincture is diffused in the air by the subsequent evaporation.
Concentration,  indeed!   The  reverse  of this,  in  the
present case, only is  true; and, for  concentration,  we
should read, dissipation !  The alcohol must be killed ! *
   But  the  syrup formula is  not quite  so  popular just
now as it was in  the  first half of the present century.
The recipes  for  these preparations, even in increasing
numbers, are still found  in  all  our dispensatories;  but
the conviction which at times has forced itself upon  the
minds of  medical men, that they were of no value,  has
apparently given rise to  new compounds, new in name
at least, which are now denominated " fluid extracts.""
These new forms, in  some cases,  are  undoubtedly im-
provements ;  but  there  seem to be  no acknowledged
general rules  by  which they are composed.  The apothe-
cary appears to have little  to do in this  matter at present.
So far as we can learn, the manufacturing of these ex-
tracts is taken from their hands, and placed in  those less,
responsible  and capable.
   * "The syrup of sarsaparilla, in the 4 U. S. Pharmacopoeia,' is intended
to represent the French sirop de cuisinier.  It is prepared with proof-spirit.
which extracts the acrid principle of the root, without taking up the inert
fecula; and the tincture, being evaporated to get rid of the alcohol .is-
made into syrup." — Pereira's Mat. Medica, vol. ii. p. 279.
                           4 
38            MEDICINAL  SUBSTANCES OF
   A few of these extracts in use  at  the present  time
 exhibit some of the characteristic powers of the articles
 from  which  they  are made.  We find  in  the shops
 fluid extracts of valerian, ipecac, and hyoscyamus, which
 partake more of the nature of tinctures, and less of the
 effects of heat;  whose  peculiar operative powers  are
 clearly recognized : but, generally speaking, they  are
 inert preparations.
   We copy below a recipe for one of these new forms
 from the  " U. S. Pharmacopoeia : " —
               44 Fluid Extract of Sarsaparilla.
          $- " Sarsaparilla, bruised, sixteen  ounces.
              Liquorice  root,   \
              Guaiacum wood,   > of  each, two ounces.
              Sassafras,       J
              Mezereon, sliced, two drachms.
              Diluted alcohol, eight pints.
   44 Digest for fourteen days; strain, express, and filter.  Evapo-
 ate on a water-bath to twelve fluid ounces, add twelve ounces of
 sugar, and remove from the  fire when this is dissolved."  Dose
 one fluid drachm three or four times a day. — Thomas's Universal
 Formulary.*
   The reader is  desired to observe  how nearly  this
 recipe corresponds to the  second formula we have copied
 of the compound syrup of sarsaparilla. The active articles
 employed, and the method of compounding them, seem
 almost  identical.  In  both  cases,  a  good tincture  is
 first made, nearly of  the same  materials; and, by  the
 second process of evaporation, is utterly destroyed !  One
 hundred  and  twenty-eight ounces of  proof-spirit tinc-
 ture boiled down to twelve ounces !  How much of the

   * The only difference between this and the officinal formula of the U. S.
Ph. is the omission of the guaiacum wood in the latter. 
THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.
39
diluted alcohol may there be  found  in  the twelve re-
maining ounces ?  Certainly, not one drop !  Even more
than three-fourths of the water which formed the dilu-
tion is converted into vapor.  It should be remembered
in this connection, that proof-spirit is allowed to be  the
only proper and perfect solvent and preserver of the ac-
tive, essential  properties  of sarsaparilla; and that, for
this purpose, its use, it would  seem,  is ordered in  the
above prescriptions : yet it appears  to be carefully pro-
vided that  this should be  all  dispelled  in vapor, and
with it  all the  virtue which the root contains !   " Dose,
one fluid  drachm" !  It would  not be  pleasant, and
probably not safe, for a person to drink at once twelve
ounces  of sugar in solution; but abating the sugar, and
the nauseous decomposition  of  the  tannin and gummy
solution, a person of good digestion, who could bear the
draught of  twelve ounces of water, or the same quanti-
ty  of weak  " herb-drink,"  might,  it  is believed,  take
the twelve  remaining  ounces of this  fluid extract with
entire  impunity.
   In the same " Universal Formulary," we have  a
recipe for the  "fluid extract of Virginia snake-root."*
The tincture  of  four  pints  is  first  made of the root,
which is subsequently evaporated to twelve ounces.  In
this case, nothing remains  of the snake-root, after  the
completion  of the process, except mucilage,  gum, earthy

   * 4t The tincture of snake-root possesses all  the tonic and cordial pro-
perties of  the root.  . . . The decoction and extract would be improper forms;
as the volatile oil, upon which the medicine partly depends, is dissipated by
boiling." — U. S. Dispensatory, pp. 660 and 1186.
   44 By decoction [of snake-root], its powers are entirely destroyed."—Ameri-
can Xew Dispensatory, p. 151. 
40
MEDICINAL  SUBSTANCES  OF
matter, and possibly a partially decomposed  astringent
substance,  of  no value, and  especially repulsive to the
taste.
   Some  other forms omit the  application of artificial
heat in the preparation, and  expose the  alcoholic  tinc-
ture  to  spontaneous evaporation  of  seventy-five per
cent of the quantity employed; after which, the process
is completed in the  usual manner;  the  destruction  of
the tincture being thus accomplished  in  one  week, in-
stead of  one hour.
   We copy one more recipe in full: —
           44 Fluid Extract of Dandelion and Senna.
        9 44 Senna, two  pounds.
            Torrefied dandelion-root, one pound.
            German chamomile, one-fourth pound.
            Sugar, twenty ounces.
            Oil of wintergreen, one-half drachm.
            Carbonate of potass, or soda, one ounce.
            Alcohol, two ounces.
            Water, half a gallon.
   44 Powder the plants,  and mix thetn with the water, holding the
alkaline carbonate in solution.  Let the mixture stand for  twelve
hours; then introduce into a percolator, and add water until a gal-
lon of liquid shall  have passed.  Evaporate on a water-bath to
twenty ounces; add the sugar; filter; and, when cold, add the alco-
hol, holding the oil of wintergreen in solution.  Dose, a teaspoon-
ful to a tablespoonful." — Thomas's Universal Formulary, " E.
Dupiiy."
   The  first  article  in this  compound is senna, whose
operative  virtue  is  nearly  or  quite  destroyed  by the
heat  of  boiling  water, if continued  even  for a  short
time.*  The second (namely, dandelion-root), when fresh,

   * 44 It  [the virtue of senna] is very conveniently extracted by water;
but it does not bear a boiling heat, having much of its purgative quality there-
by injured." — Cullen's [Barton's] Mat. Medica, vol. ii. p. 374. 
THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
41
abounds in a "milky juice," in which the medicinal quali-
ty of  the root resides;  which root must be  carefully
dried in the shade, to preserve its strength even for a few
weeks.*
   The third ingredient is German chamomile,^  which,
when  fresh, has a strong and grateful  aroma, so cover-
ing  its  bitterness as to render  it an agreeable tonic, but
which  is deprived of its valuable  medicinal  properties
by exposure for a short time to the air of a high  sum-
mer temperature.
   It is a conceded point, that  the  fresh dandelion-root
should be used as soon after it is taken from the  earth
as is practicable; and that it cannot be preserved, even
with the greatest care in drying, to such an extent as to
render it proper for use  beyond  the  following winter.
The virtue  of its milky juice is  lost in  a little  time,
despite of  all  care to  preserve  it.   The poppy-head,
which in  its  proper  season  exudes its  milky  juice
through slight incisions ; which, in the open air, is soon
inspissated into  opium, — if left  to stand in the field
until the flowers open and mature, loses  all  its narcotic
juice,  and the capsules thus dried  are  nearly as free of
opium as the corn-husk.  How much virtue, then,  can
we suppose would remain  in the dandelion-root, which,
   * Respecting the cure and the value of dandelion-root, the4< United-States
Dispensatory" says in substance, 4l If gathered before the close of warm
weather, and dried in the shade, with great care, its activity may be so far
preserved, thai it may with propriety be prescribed the ensuing winter."
   t . . . "The aroma [of chamomile] is dissipated by boiling.  The decoc-
tion is  better  calculated  for  fomentations and enemata than for internal
use." — U. S. Dispensatory, p. 901.
                            4* 
42
MEDICINAL  SUBSTANCES OF
as a preparatory step to  its boiling, had been  thus
" torrefied " ?
  But, in the case we arc considering, the  result would
be the same if the roasting of the dandelion should be
omitted.   The gallon of liquid  obtained  by the  first
part of the process must be evaporated to one pint and
one-fourth.  No  professional  acumen could detect the
difference, whether  the  torrefied  or untorrefied  root
were employed, or whether any dandelion or senna, and
perhaps chamomile, entered into the composition.   The
process of compounding  this fluid extract would nearly
or quite  destroy all  the  prominent, valuable properties
of any or of all the  most highly esteemed  roots, leaves,
flowers,  seeds, fruits, and rich  juices, whose virtues
have given  them a prominent place  in our vegetable
Materia Medica.
   Such persistent efforts  to dilute  and destroy the re-
medial agents placed in our hands as  a boon and
blessing !  Such  seeming determination to reduce  the
health-giving restoratives of the  vegetable kingdom to
the  weak wash  of  sweetened water, or  to  the  inert
though nauseous  extract of amylaceous, albuminous, and
earthy matter, each dose of which  adds to the discomfort
and disgust of the patient!  But  in this way they accom-
plish what seems to  many medical men to be an object of
paramount importance ;  for, in the words of a late author
already quoted, they thus " get rid of the alcohol."
   We have also inspissated,  or,  as they are sometimes
called, solid extracts, which, in the language of our
Pharmacopceias, embrace all  products  obtained by
the  evaporation  of a solution,  maceration,  digestion, 
THE  VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
43
infusion, or of an expressed juice.   They are of a dark
color,  of nearly the consistence of  the pill  mass,  but
gradually  grow  harder, especially  on  exposure  to  the
air; and some of them, in a little time, become pulveri-
zable.   They are generally made, when artificially pro-
duced, by prolonged decoction.   The several vegetable
substances are boiled until the menstruum becomes thick
and dark : the liquor  is then strained or filtered from
the dregs, and subsequently evaporated  to  the desired
consistence.   Sometimes these  extracts are  made, as
has been said, by commencing the process with macera-
tion, digestion, or with the expressed juice ; inspissation
being  effected in a  similar manner by continued  boiling
or evaporation.
   Whichever of  the above methods be adopted, the
result is  nearly the same.   The valuable properties of
the plants, subjected to the long boiling heat, are dissi-
pated  in the air.   The extracts made in this manner all
look very nearly alike,  have a similar odor, and even
taste; and, in all  probability, a similar  effect when ad-
ministered.   The objections to extracts obtained by the
process just described are recognized by many authori-
ties ;  and, to obviate them, the plan  has  been  tried of
obtaining them by boiling carried on in vacuo*   To this
end,  an  apparatus has  been  formed by  Mr. Barry.f

    * 44 The objection to decoction and evaporation [in the formation of ex-
tracts] is obviated in a great measure by allowing the expressed juice to
evaporate  spontaneously in ordinary temperatures, or by carrying on the
process in vacuo."— Thomas's U. S. Formulary, p. 517.
    t '4 The apparatus for evaporating in vacuo, invented by Mr. Barry, and
described in the 4 London Journal of Science and Arts,' enables the water to
rise in vapor more rapidly, and at a comparative low temperature.  The
method of Barry consists in distilling into a large receiver, from which the 
44
MEDICINAL  SUBSTANCES  OF
The  articles with  their menstruum are  placed  in this
apparatus modified by Mr. Redwood, in a close, strong
vessel, and the air-pump applied to withdraw the atmo-
spheric air  and the vapor as it rises.   It is evident there
is  no vacuum formed  by  this mode of operation,  the
steam rising as fast as it can be withdrawn by the pump;
and it seems that only a quasi vacuum is claimed.   But
another claim is made ;  namely, that the boiling goes on
much more rapidly, and that  the process  is thus com-
pleted in less time,  than  is required without this me-
chanical  withdrawal of  the  air  and  vapor.    This is
undoubtedly true.   More  of  the volatilized menstruum.,
and of the essential qualities of whatever substances
may have been put into the liquid, would be withdrawn,
and diffused in the atmosphere, in a given time, than  by
the ordinary mode of ebullition.   But it does not seem
to be important  to  ascertain the  difference of time  re-
quired in the two  cases.   The effect must be the  same
in either  case; namely, the loss of  the valuable princi-
ples of the  medicines employed, in the " elastic incoerci-
ble vapor"  which  escapes.  Thus  ihe  same objections
air has been expelled by steam, and in which the vapor is condensed by
cold water, applied to the surface of the receiver, so as to maintain a par-
tial vacuum. Mr. Redwood has modified this process by keeping an air-
pump active during the evaporation; thus  removing not only the air, but
the vapor as fast as it rises." — Journal de Pharmacie, 3d series, 231.
   Note. — The invention of Mr. Barry, without the modification above
described, is virtually embraced by the apparatus usually employed for the
purpose of distillation.  A liquid partaking of the virtues of the  medicinal
substances employed would thus be obtained, but no inspissated extract.
The repetition, in this place, of some of the objections before made to this
process in vacuo, seemed necessary, inasmuch as an improvement is  here
claimed, especially applicable to the formation of solid extracts. 
THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.
45
apply  to  the  preparation  of  extracts  in  this  manner
which have been already noticed in speaking  of decoc-
tions made by the same process.*
   The methods  generally  prescribed  by our pharma-
copoeias  for obtaining the inspissated  vegetable  extracts
are so various,  and sometimes conflicting in their cha-
racter, that  they  must  greatly embarrass the pharma-
ceutist.  The  quotations in  the  footnotes,  immediately
following this reference,f are all from the " United-States


   * In either preparation [of vegetable extracts, made by the boiling or the
evaporation of a watery or spirituous solution], the volatile principles must
necessarily be dissipated; and in many cases, especially in  the preparation
of watery extracts, decomposition, or oxygenation, of the more fixed parts
takes place.  Hence  there  are  few vegetables whose virtues are obtained
uninjured in their extracts. — American New  Dispensatory, p. 638.
   44 Extracts are prepared by boiling  the subject in water, and evapo-
rating  the strong decoction to a thick consistence. .  . . There is a great
difference in vegetable substances in regard to their fitness for this opera-
tion;  some  yielding  all their virtues,  and others scarce any. . . .  Those
which contain a jiendiar odor, flavor,  and aromatic quality, are either not
extracted at all, or exhaled along with the menstruum. . .  . Wormwood, which
has a degree of warmth and strong flavor joined to the bitter, loses the two
first in the  evaporation. ...  An extract made from the  flowers of rose-
mary, or lavender, discovers nothing, either of the taste, smell, or virtues, of
the flowers." — New [London]  Dispensatory, p. 403.
    14 In selecting  a  suitable menstruum in which to procure the principle of
plants,  reference  is  had  to the nature of these. If they are gums  or
starch, which may be taken up by water, the cheap fluid is employed; and
the resins, which are only soluble in alcohol or ether, are left behind.  But,
if it be the resins  or  the volatile oils which it is desirable to obtain, alcohol
or ether is employed. .  . . Various methods are adopted to effect solutions
of vegetable principles, so as to obtain their full strength without endan-
gering  their decomposition by exposure  to  too great heat.  It  was the
opinion of Orkila, from numerous experiments upon extracts, that their
virtues  diminish in proportion  to the degree of heat to which they are ex-
posed." — New American Cyclopcedia.
    t . . . 44 Long-continued evaporation has a tendency to injure the extract.
    44 According to Berzelius, the injurious influence of atmospheric air  is
much  greater at the boiling-point of water  than at a  less heat, even 
46
MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES OF
Dispensatory,"  chapter  " Extracta;"  some  of  which,
however,  are credited  to  other authorities.   It will be
seen that  they are quite antithetical in  several  of their
recommendations ;  and it would seem to be a fair infer-
ence, that  no  one of  them  secures the  general favor
and  confidence  of  medical  men.
   A  mode of preparing extracts without artificial heat
is briefly  alluded to  below;  but  the  process of  prepa-
ration is prefaced with the doubt of a "perhaps,"  which
gives little  value to the paragraph  of two  lines.  The
----—---------■---------------------------------------------------------------------------x--------
allowing  for the longer  exposure in the latter case.  Therefore  a slower
evaporation, at a moderate heat, is preferable  to the  more rapid  effects of
ebullition.  . .  .
   44 The  method of  evaporation usually resorted  to  in the case of the
aqueous solution is rapid boiling over a fire.  The more quickly the  process is
conducted, the better, provided the liquor  is  to be brought to the boiling-
point;, for the temperature  cannot exceed this,  and the length of the
exposure  is diminished. . . .
   44 It has been  proposed to effect the evaporation at the common tempe-
rature  by directing a strong current of air, by means  of a pair of smith's
bellows, over  the  surface  of the liquid.  .  . .
   44 Plans have been proposed, and  carried  into execution, for performing
evaporation without the admission of atmospheric air. .  . .
   44 In the  preparation  of extracts, evaporate the moisture as  quickly as
possible, in a broad, shallow  dish, by means of a water-bath. . .  .
   44 Extracts are usually prepared by evaporating  the expressed juice of
plants, or their infusions, or  decoctions  in water, or proof-spirit, at a tem-
perature not exceeding 212°, by means of a vapor-bath.  . . .
   44 And the extracts of expressed juices  cannot, perhaps, be better pre-
pared than  by spontaneous evaporation  in shallow vessels, exposed to a
current of air. .  . .
   14 All  simple  extracts, unless otherwise  ordered, ought to be prepared
according to the following rule: Boil  the vegetable matter  in eight times
its weight in water, till the liquid is reduced one-half.  Then express;  and,
after  the subsidence of the  dregs,  filter.   Evaporate the  liquor with a
superior heat (between 200° and 212°), until it begins to thicken.   Finally,
inspissate it  with a  medium  heat (between 100° and  200°)  obtained by a
water-bath, frequently stirring until it acquires a consistency proper for the
formation of  pills." 
THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
47
final and explicit order, it will be seen, is, — in the com-
mencement of  the  preparation, — Boil down the men-
struum " until  the  liquid is reduced one-half."
   The difference between extracts formed by decoction
and evaporation,  and  those obtained from  expression,
or exudation, and inspissated, without the aid of artificial
heat, is strikingly illustrated by the process of obtaining
the  narcotic  property of the poppy,  in contradistinction
to the methods usually employed  to  obtain  the extracts
of medicinal plants.*  If the head  of the  poppy, at
the  proper  season of  the year,  be  slightly  incised,  a
milky juice  immediately exudes, which soon  hardens
in  the  air  into  nearly  perfect  opium.  Perhaps   one
grain  of the extract may be thus  obtained  from each
plant.    If a  quantity of poppy-heads be taken from  the
same enclosure,  and subjected to the  usual  process of
obtaining extracts  by boiling and evaporation, a large
quantity of  extractive matter is obtained,  amounting,
it is said, to more than one-third  of  the weight  of  the
heads  used.   This extract is composed of  fixed  oil,
starch, albumen, earthy  matter,  &c, but  contains  no
appreciable quantity  of opium.f
   * 44 The method of collecting the juice of the poppy is the following:
At about three or four of the clock in the afternoon, individuals repair to
the fields, and scarify the capsules with sharp iron instruments. .  . . The
capsules having been scarified in the manner above described, the collec-
tion of the juice is made at an early hour in the following morning. . . . The
opium  now requires frequent attendance on the part of the cultivator.  It
is daily exposed to the  air, but never to the sun; and is regularly turned
over every  few days, to insure  uniform dryage in the whole mass." —
Pereira's Mat. Med., art. 44 White Poppy."
   f M. Beral observes, in relation to the extract of poppies, as follows:
14 If made over an open fire, it is nearly inert." 
48
MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES OF
   The solid extracts should be made without the appli-
cation  of artificial  heat,  from  the  expressed juice,
exposed in proper  vessels to spontaneous evaporation.
The peculiar  odor  of the several plants is thus  pre-
served ;  and, what is far better, the physician witnesses
the effects of the peculiar properties ascribed  to  each
plant  from their administration.   In  this manner, sub-
stantially, does Nature form nearly all our most valuable
gum-resins;  namely, from  the spontaneous  exudation
of  their  juices, which are hardened in the temperature
of  the atmosphere.
   Comparatively few vegetable  medicines are given in
substance or in powder*   Some  are nauseous and repul-
sive in this form; some are too bulky to  be  taken  in a
proper quantity in powder; some  are  nearly destroyed;
and  all  are  more  or  less  injured  by  drying  them


   * 4< This form [that of powder] is proper for such materials only as are
capable of being sufficiently dried for pulverizing without the loss of their
virtue.  There are many substances, however, of this kind, which cannot
be conveniently taken in powder.  Bitter, acrid, and fetid drugs are too
disagreeable ;  emollient and mucilaginous herbs and roots,  too bulky.
Pure gums cohere, and become tenacious in the  mouth.  Fixed alkaline
salts deliquesce when exposed to the air, and volatile salts exhale.  Many
of the aromatics, too, suffer great loss of their  odorous principle when kept
in powder, as in that form they expose a much larger surface to the air." —
American New Dispensatory, p. 541.
   44 If powders are long kept, and not carefully secured from the air,
their virtue is in a great measure destroyed, although the parts in which it
consists should not, in other circumstances, prove volatile.   Thus, though
the virtues of ipecacuanha are so fixed as to remain entire even in extracts
made with proper mensti-ua, yet, as the College of Wirtemberg observes, if
the  powdered root be  exposed for a length of time to the air, it loses its
emetic quality." — New [London] Dispensatory, p.  548.
   44 Powders of aromatics are to be prepared only in small quantities at a
time, and kept in glass vessels  very closely stopped." — Pharmacopoeia
Edinburgensis. 
THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
49
sufficiently for pulverization.  Most prescriptions, con-
sisting of powders,  are designed  for  acute  or  febrile
cases, and are seldom used in chronic forms of disease.
Opium, ipecac, and camphor, in powder variously com-
pounded  or  mixed,  form  a very common  febrifuge;
rhubarb and jalap are often, though less frequently, given
in powder;  and some other articles might be named,
which are occasionally ordered in  this form.  But it  is
believed that all vegetable medicines lose a considerable
portion of their active properties  by drying  to  the
degree required for pulverization.   Their loss in weight
by this process is well known.   Thus rhubarb loses in
weight about eight per  cent;  columbo,  ten; valerian,
fifteen ;  Virginia snakeroot, twenty;  ipecac, twenty-five;
squills,  eighteen ;  cinchona,  twelve; cinnamon, twelve;
angustura, eighteen;  chamomile flowers, fifteen;  saffron,
twenty; lavender and rosemary, eighteen ; digitalis  and
belladonna, twenty;  senna, twenty-five  ; henbane, forty-
five ;  colocynth, fifty:  (see  tables  of Guibourt  and
Henrv.)   The loss in the purgative and  aromatic gums-
is comparatively  light.  A part  of  this deficiency,.
especially in  the case of some of  the roots, is- undoubt-
edly owing to the presence of a ligneous matter, which
is of little value, and scarcely pulverizable ; but another
portion is obviously occasioned by the preparatory drying
process, in which, whatever  care may be  used, much of
the valuable  properties of the several  articles escapes :
so that the  loss in weight, as indicated above, may
pretty nearly represent also the  loss in virtue.
   Conserves, troches, confections, and electuaries  have been
little  used as  medicinal forms for  many  years;  and*
                           5 
50
MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES  OF
at the  present time, seem to have fallen into  entire*
disuse.
   Certain remedies are best  administered in pills;  for,
by this  mode  of preparation,  the offensive taste of
the  component parts is  almost  wholly concealed.   It
is not,  however,  so well  adapted  to  the  demands of
acute diseases where an immediate effect  is  desired ;
yet  its  slower solution and  operation  are not objected
to in  the  treatment  of  chronic  complaints.   Some
articles  are too bulky for this mode  of preparation ;  but
there are quite a number of  active materials in very
common use,  sufficiently  concentrated for this purpose.
Among these  are  the purgative gum-resins and narcotic
extracts.  The pill mass is also a convenient and  proper
form for expectorants, as of squills, ipecac, antimony, &c.;
and  most necessary for the  administration  of the fetid
gums, such as assafoetida, galbanum, and sagapenum*
   All,  or nearly  all,  of the  simple medicines  of the
vegetable kingdom,  yield their  virtues  to alcohol or
proof-spirit;  and  they not only yield these to this  sol-
vent, but, with very little  care,  their  efficiency is fully
and  permanently preserved.   " Proof-spirit, bottled,  and
corked  moderately tight, never ferments."   This declara-
tion is from a source entitled to  full credit.  The  rule
is, that  tinctures never lose  any portion  of their virtue by
age.  There  may be exceptions to this rule, which  is
here more particularly intended to apply to the medici-

   *  4I No form of medicinal agents is more frequently employed than that
of pill; not only because of the facility with which  it is administered, and
its comparatively little taste,  but because this form answers so excellent a
purpose in the preservation of certain compounds."— Universal Formulary,
p. 515. 
THE VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.
51
nal  agencies of  the vegetable kingdom;  but  they are
very few.  In  the  language of our dispensatories, they
preserve their virtues  "for an indefinite  time."
   The use of tinctures was formerly more extensive and
popular than it is at present.   It is  admitted,  now a6
formerly, that  they present the active principles of drugs
in a small volume ; and that they are,  for other reasons,
proper  forms  of prescription.*    Some  two  or  three
hundred recipes for tinctures are  contained  in  our  late
dispensatories : still, while these authors  commend  this
form of preparation as  one which fully extracts  and
permanently retains  the  virtues  of those agents sub-
mitted  to  the influence  of  spirituous  solvents,  they
clearly interdict their general use,f for reasons we shall
presently consider.  .
   If it can be clearly shown  that spirit-tinctures dis-
solve more  perfectly the  valuable  properties  of  vege-
table  medicines   than  any  other  prescribed  mode of
extraction,  and that they preserve these in full activity
and  efficiency  for  an  unlimited  period,  and  are  the
form of exhibition  most agreeable to the patient,  espe-
cially in protracted diseases, the  evidence  should re-
   * Rectified spirit of wine is the direct menstruum of the resins and es-
sential oils of vegetable matter; and totally extracts these active principles
from sundry vegetable matters, which yield them to water, either not at all,
or only in part. — New Dispensatory, p. 303.
   44 The form of tincture is one much used in pharmacy.  It presents the
active principles of drugs in a small volume.  It can. be preserved in an unal-
tered stale for a long time;  audit is, in most cases, well adapted to unite
with other substances in  extemporaneous prescriptions." — Universal For-
mulary, p. 521.
   t *' Physicians should avoid prescribing alcoholic remedies in chronic
c«ses, whether alone or in the form of tincture, for fear of begetting intern-  %
perate habits in their patients." — U. S. Dispensatory, p. 63. 
52              MEDICINAL  SUBSTANCES  OF
  instate  them in  general favor.   They should take  the
  place of those forms of  prescription  which  sometimes
  decompose the plants employed, which at  best dissolve
  less  of  their  active properties, dissipating even these
  in  vapor, or retaining  their greatly  diminished  virtues
  but for  a  short  time.
     We  will  present some  further  testimony  from  ap-
  :proved  writers in  favor  of the  use  of  tinctures,  as
  ^affording a most  eligible  form  for the preparation  and
  .exhibition of vegetable remedies.*

     * 44 The powdered root [valerian]  impregnates both water and alcohol.
  Water distilled from it smells strong of the root; but no essential  oil sepa-
  rates, whatever  be  the quantity employed.  The watery extract  is strong
  and disagreeable, sweetish and bitter; but  the spirituous agreeable, and
  nearly resembling  the root .  . .  Next to the  powder,  a strong tincture
  made with proof-spirit is the most  efficient." — Parr's Medical Dictionary.
     44 Canella yields all its virtue to alcohol.   Boiling-water extracts nearly
  one-fourth of its weight; but the infusion, though bitter, has comparative-
  ly little of the  warmth  and pungency of canella."— U.  S. Dispensatory,
  p. 159.
     44 As the virtue of valerian resides  chiefly in the volatile oil, the medicine
  should not be given in decoction or extract. . .  . The tincture is officinal."
  — U. S. Dispensatory, p. 732.
     14 The tincture possesses all the tonic and cordial properties of the root
  ^snake-root]."—United-States Dispensatory,-p. 1186. . . . 44 The decoction or
  ^extract would be  an improper form."— U. S. Dispensatory, p. 660.
     14 Water extracts the virtue of sundry fragrant,  aromatic herbs: .  . .
  but the aqueous infusions are far from being equally suited to this process
  with those made in spirit; water carrying off the whole odor and flavor, which
  ithese higher liquors leave entire behind it. Thus a watery infusion of mint loses
  tin evaporation the smell, taste, and virtues of the herb; while a tincture drawn
  withpure spirit yields a thick, balsamic  liquid, or solid gummy resin,  extremely
  fr'ichin the peculiar qualities of the mint." — New [London] Dispensatory, p. 49.
      44 The virtues of many vegetables are extracted almost equally by water
  and rectified spirit: but, in the watery and spirituous extract of them, there
  is this difference, — that the active parts in the watery extraction are blended
  with a large portion  of gummy matter, on  which their solubility in this
  menstruum depends; while rectified  spirit Extracts them  almost pure from
• gum." — New [London] Dispensatory, p. 303. ' 
THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
53
   We think the  references made in this  paper  to many
approved authorities, in relation to " simple medicines,"
prove several facts worthy of the careful consideration of
the physician.   These are very briefly repeated here, as
follows:  First, that the  gathering  and  curing  of these
articles is a matter attended with considerable difficulty;
second,  that  their  preservation is imperfectly secured
with  the exercise of still greater care ;  thirdly, that,
despite the  best  efforts to  collect in a  proper manner
and  in  the  right season,  and to  preserve, plants  thus
gathered, some begin to decay at an  early day, and, in
many instances, soon thereafter become inert and worth-
less,  yet  still, perhaps,  preserving a  good  outward
appearance.
   We quote  substantially from  our  dispensatories,   and
systems  of  Materia Medica,  in  saying  that  a large
proportion of  the sarsaparilla* in our market is inert;
that  colchicum-root,  as  usually  imported,  is  worth-
less ;  that our snake-root, valerian, cubebs, buch u, chamo-

    44 The active  principles of dried vegetables can only be extracted by
means of a liquid solvent.  The menstruum usually employed is either water
or alcohol, or a mixture of the  two----Alcohol is employed when the prin-
ciples to be extracted are insoluble, or slightly soluble, in water,  as in the
case of resins; when it is desirable to avoid in the extract inert substances,
such as gums or starch; when the heat required to evaporate the aqueous solu-
tion would dissipate or decompose the active ingredients  of the plants, as the
volatile oils and the active principle of sarsaparilla; when the re-action of the
water itself upon the vegetable principles is injurious; . . . and, finally, when
the nature  of the substance to be exhausted requires so long a maceration
in water as to endanger spontaneous  decomposition.  The watery solution re-
quires to be soon evaporated, as the fluid rather promotes than counteracts
chemical changes; while an alcoholic  tincture may be preserved unaltered for
an indefinite period." — United-States Dispensatory, pp.  926, 927.
   * See a previous footnote, relating to the  quality of the sarsaparilla of
the shops, p. 12.
                              5* 
54
MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES OF
mile flowers, mezereon, pink-root, many medicinal barks,
leaves, and seeds, are frequently much impaired in virtue
before  they are wrought into their  ultimate  forms of
use  by  the apothecary or physician.  But the  most
important fact, which  we  would again  commend to
consideration, is the  frequent  admission,  as  we have
shown,  of medical writers, that the forms of preparation
before noticed, as made with the assistance  of external
heat, even if the best  materials are  used, do  not  dissolve
and retain the virtues of the  ingredients  employed.
   Now, in  view  of these frequently  admitted  facts,
does not  a very important  question force itself  on our
consideration ?  Is there no method, or form of prepa-
ration, by which the  most active medicinal, vegetable
plants can be  taken when fresh, and known to be  in their
full  virtue, and so compounded as to secure and retain
their full  efficiency for an indefinite time ?   We think we
have already  shown, from as  good authority as there is
extant on this subject, that there is such a form; namely,
the form of tincture, made from alcoholic or  proof spirit.
We will offer here no further evidence on this particular
point,  but would  ask  a  careful  consideration  of  the
proofs  that  have  been already presented ;  and which
may be summarily expressed as  follows: —
   That  diluted alcohol, or  proof-spirit,  is the  direct
solvent of all the active medicinal agencies of the vege-
table kingdom; while water, hot or cold, extracts them
either partially, or not at all.
   That the spirit-tincture  not  only dissolves the entire
virtues of the most esteemed  articles of the vegetable
Materia Medica, but that it preserves their strength in 
THE  VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
55
full force,  and in a permanent form; whereas the par-
tial value of the solutions  made  by water is with great
difficulty retained even for a  short time.
   That the form of tincture affords an eligible prescrip-
tion for use.  Its administration does not, like some of
the preparations we have noticed, cause nausea, thereby
increasing  the discomfort of  the  patient;  but almost
invariably  tends to allay all unpleasant sensations of that
character which may exist at the time of its use.
   That spirituous tinctures extract from medicinal vege-
tables their active properties  only, leaving entirely un-
touched the inert  principles of the plant, such as starch,
albumen, gum, and earthy matters, which can  scarcely
be called  medicinal, but  which are  taken up  by the
aqueous preparations we  have already noticed, the use
of which  soon becomes offensive  to the taste,  and fre-
quently produces a disturbance  in the stomach, which
greatly retards the  recovery  of  the patient.
   That tinctures  present  the  active principles of drugs
in a small volume  ; which  is frequently a matter of great
importance, inasmuch as some prescriptions, from  their
mere  bulk, offend the stomach, and thereby produce a
general derangement of  the  system.
   It would seem that all these  conceded advantages in
favor of the use of  tinctures would secure their general
employment,  especially in diseases of a chronic  charac-
ter, or in all cases in which alterative remedies are indi-
cated ;  but the  use of tinctures at the present time is
reo-arded with nearly general disfavor.  If any alcohol
be introduced in the early process  of the composition
of a prescription  to extract the active  principles of  the 
56
MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES OF
 several ingredients which are ordered,  the closing direc-
 tions  frequently are to boil  down  the  liquid obtained
 from  fifty to  eighty per  cent, in order, it would seem,
 to "get rid  of the alcohol;"  although, by following
 the last order, the pharmaceutist will effectually dissipate
 all  of the essential operative powers obtained in  the
 first instance  by its employment.
   In  this  connection, there  seems to be  a necessity for
 some  remarks on the medicinal character of  alcohol,  or
 of proof-spirit, and of vinous liquors.   Spirits, as  we
 have  said, are not  in favor, even as a vehicle or solvent
 for the virtues of plants.   Some take  the ground, that,
 inasmuch  as  their  immoderate use  has  been produc-
 tive  of so much degradation and misery, they  should
 not be used  in any  case or under any  circumstance.
 Some  prescribe  their use per  se;  others acknowledge
 their  good effects,  when  they hold  in solution  appro-
 priate  medicinal remedies, and in this  form recommend
 their use.  Thus opposite opinions * are entertained upon

   * 4l Concerning the use of alcoholic liquors as  a medicine, the ablest
 writers hold directly opposite opinions, while they all of them agree in warn-
 ing against the dangers that are sure to attend their habitual use.  The best
 authorities treat of them as a stimulant, that may be employed to advan-
 tage in sustaining the enfeebled powers in advanced stages of fever,  or in
 hastening the restoration in convalescence from  acute diseases,  and also
 in cases of chronic debility.  For indigestion, colic, lockjaw, and some  other
 diseases  of a  violent and sudden character, alcohol may prove  of  great
 benefit. . .  . Yet many would be glad  to see it banished from the Phar-
 macopoeia, in view of the immense evils it brings upon the unfortunate
 individuals  who  acquire  a taste  for it." . .  .  New American Cyclo-
pcedia.
   44 The advantages of wine, as a pharmaceutical menstruum, are, that, in
 consequence of the alcohol it contains, it dissolves substances insoluble
in water, and, to  a certain extent, resists the tendency to spontaneous
change. . .  . But most wines, particularly the light  varieties, are liable to 
THE  VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.
57
this  subject  at  this  day;  although  the  number  who
repudiate the  use  of  spirit,   either  unmixed  or as a
medicinal  solvent,  are  probably in the  majority.
undergo decomposition; . .  . so that medicated wines,  although  they  keep
much better than infusions or decoctions, are still inferior, in this respect,  to
tinctures." — United-States Dispensatory, p. 1209.
   44 The spirituous liquors, in small quantities, prove a powerful cordial,
and, for a  time, a strengthening beverage;  giving  vigor to the stomach,
promoting digestion, and preventing flatulence.  To the weakly and relaxed
they are highly useful, by giving elasticity and firmness of tone." . .  .
American New Dispensatory, p. 135.
   44 As a  pharmaceutic agent, it is of much  importance, from the solvent
power  it exerts over a number of vegetable principles; . . . and by its
property, too, of counteracting the spontaneous changes to  which vegetable
matter is liable." — American New Dispensatory, p. 72.
   44 In  some states of acute disease characterized by  excessive debility, it
[alcohol] is a valuable remedy. In the form of brandy, it is frequently given
in the sinking stages of typhus with advantage.  Other kinds of ardent spirits
are occasionally administered, and each  is supposed to have its peculiar
qualities.   Thus, according to  Paris, brandy may be considered as simply
cordial and stomachic; rum, heating and sudorific; gin and whiskey, diuretic."
— United-States Dispensatory, p. 63.
   44 As a  stomachic  stimulant, spirit is employed to  reduce  spasmodic
pains and flatulency, to check vomiting  (especially sea-sickness), and to
give temporary relief in some cases of indigestion attended with  pain after
taking food.  As a stimulant and restorative,  it is given with considerable
advantage in the latter stages of fever.  As a powerful  excitant, it is used
to support the  vital  powers,  to prevent  fainting during a tedious opera-
tion, to relieve syncope and  languor, and to assist the restoration  of patients
from a state of  suspended animation.  In delirium tremens,  it is not always
advisable  to leave  off the  employment of spirituous  liquors at once, since
the sudden withdrawal of the long-accustomed stimulus may be attended
with  fatal consequences. ... In  mild  cases of diarrhoea, attended with
griping pain, but unaccompanied  by any  inflammation,  a small  quantity of
spirit and water,  taken warm with nutmeg,  is  often  a  most efficacious
remedy." — Pereira's Mat. Med.,  vol. ii.  p. 910.
   41 Wine is employed medicinallv, chiefly as a  cordial, stimulant, and
tonic. ... In the latter stages of fever, when languor and torpor have  suc-
ceeded  to a previous state of violent action, and in the low forms of this
disease, wine is at times undoubtedly useful.   It supports the vital powers,
and  often  relieves delirium, subsultus tendinum, and promotes sleep. ... As 
58
MEDICINAL  SUBSTANCES OF
   For  a large  and  highly esteemed  class  of vegetable
remedies  in general  favor with the profession, no other
menstruum  so   perfectly  dissolves,  and  certainly pre-
a stimulating tonic and invigorating agent, it is given in a state of conva-
lescence from fever, and in the recovery from various chronic non-febrile
diseases." .  . . — Pereira's Mat. Med., vol. ii. p. 896.
   44 Spirituous liquors, in small quantities,  prove a powerful cordial, and,
for a time, a strengthening beverage; giving vigor to  the stomach, promot-
ing digestion, and preventing flatulence." — American New Dispensatory,
p. 135.
   44 Advantage  is sometimes experienced from stimulating drinks, as  a
little  brandy and  water during meals; but the moral hazard  is, on the
whole, greater than any probable benefit."— Wood's Practice (5th Phila.
ed.), vol. i. p. 587.
   .  . . 44 On ne peut qu'approuver un pr^cepte que  Galien nous a con-
serve de ce m^dicin.   C'est de donner du vin pour dissiper les roideurs qui
se font sentir apres  les  grands  evacuations.  C'^toit dans la m§me vue
qu'HirpocRATE conseilloit de boire du vin pur, de terns en terns. .  . . Dis-
coride et Avicenne, apres Hippocrate, ont dit qu'il e"toit utile, pour le
sante7 de  boire,  quelquefois, jusqu'a se enivrer: il est  assez  naturel de
penser que, pour affirmir sa constitution, on pourroit se permettre, quoique
rarement, des exces, autant dans le boire que dans le  manger." — Encyclo-
pedic des Sciences, par  M. Diderot.
   Note. — The  permission  44 rarely," given  above  by the "fathers of
medicine," would find few indorsers at the present day.
   44 Those [tinctures made with diluted alcohol] which require to be given
in large doses should be cautiously employed in this form,  lest the injury
done by the  menstruum should more than counterbalance  their beneficial
operation.  This remark is particularly applicable to chronic cases of disease,
in which the  use of tinctures is apt to result  in the establishment of fatal
habits of intemperance."— United-States Dispensatory, p.  1160.
   Note. — The amount of tincture which the above authority considers
a 44 large dose," on account of the  diluted alcohol it contains, may be seen
in the following extract: —
   14 This tincture [of valerian made with  diluted alcohol]  possesses  the
properties of valerian, but cannot be given in ordinary cases, so  as  to
produce the  full effects  of the  root, without stimulating  too  highly, in
consequence of the large proportion of spirit.   The dose is from one to four
fluid drachms." — United-States Dispensatory,  p. 1187.
   %* The quantity above directed, expressed by a more common measure,
would read,4< Dose, from one-sixteenth to one-fourth of a wine-glass." 
THE  VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
59
serves, their virtues as alcohol.   There can be no need
of saying more on this point;  for it stands forth  in our
medical authorities as a conceded fact.   Still, spirituous
tinctures  are  frequently denounced, because their use
may lead to intemperance.
   AVhere an  appetite for the use  of  ardent spirit has
been  formed, certain quasi  medicinal  liquors  are fre-
quently  availed of, under  the pretence that  they are
used " as a medicine," to gratify the previously  acquired
lore  for  spirituous liquors.  " Spice bitters" were for-
merly for sale  in almost  every shop  in the  country.
Each paper generally contained  one or two  drachms  of
powdered cassia,  with  the make-weight,  perhaps,  of
hemlock-bark, " sufficient  for  one quart  of  spirit."
Other things  of a kindred nature  have wrought great
mischief among us.   " Wolfe's Schnapps," claiming to
be a medicated spirit, have had a very extensive sale.
This preparation is simply gin, generally of an ordinary
quality,  flavored, not entirely with oil of juniper; some
two or three drops of other essential  oils being added
to each  gallon.
   But  is there the man now living who dates his first
love  of spirituous liquors to the occasional and  proper
use of those formerly most common and popular com-
pounds,— hierapicra, elixir proprietatis, elixir sacrum,
tincture  of blood-root, tincture  of guaiacum, or  wine of
ipecac ?   I have never found  one  such person, — have
not been able  even to hear  of such  a case.
   Tinctures fully saturated with active medicinal agen-
 cies cannot be  taken  in doses  much  over  one  ounce;
 and their prescribed quantity does not often exceed one- 
60
MEDICINAL  SUBSTANCES  OF
half that quantity, frequently not over two fluid drachms.
If a larger amount than the maximum dose above stated
be taken for the sake of the alcoholic vehicle,  it would
probably operate much like  the " remedy for intemper-
ance,"  which  had  a transient  popularity some thirty
years since ; that is, it would overtask the stomach, thus
creating a disgust, instead of increasing  the appetite, for
spirituous liquors.
  The  skilful, faithful physician has  other important
duties to perform beyond those of prescribing appropriate
remedies in their best forms to his  patient.   If spiritu-
ous liquors, per se, have been ordered to meet any emer-
gency, which,  in  his  opinion,  required  their use, he
should, as soon as the symptoms show any remission in
the severity of the case, diminish  their quantity,  and,
as soon as possible, discontinue their use entirely.   He
should do  this, not only to  prevent  the appetite for
stimulating drinks which might  arise from their unne-
cessarily prolonged use, but that he may save for his
patient  his susceptibility to the favorable operation of
the same  remedy,  should  a recurrence of the disease
render their future prescription necessary;   for a  long
use of  any remedial agency renders the system less and
less susceptible to its influence.
  Opium, in the hands of the skilful and discreet  phy-
sician,  is among the highest  gifts  which our Materia
Medica confers  on  suffering  humanity.  How often,
through  its proper  administration,  have the  severest,
most  excruciating  pains  been  alleviated!   The  most
violent  cramps and  tetanic spasms are frequently re-
lieved by the exhibitions of a few doses of opium; and 
THE VEGETABLE  KINGDOM.
61
time has thus been gained for the employment of other
remedies of slower operation ; by the use of which, per-
manent relief has often been gained.  But the abuses of
opium are widely known, although  the baneful and de-
grading effects of its constant and excessive use are, we
believe, more frequently exhibited in Europe and Asia
than in the United States.  Perhaps, in the perversion of
this excellent remedy to all the evils flowing from intem-
perance, the physician may have sometimes  incurred a
fearful responsibility.   If the patient be allowed to con-
tinue the use of opium  beyond the absolute necessities
of his case, a rising appetite for its stimulus may arise,
which at length may defy the advice  of physicians and
friends, and even the sternest resolution which the sub-
ject of its influence may be able to form.  The physician
who prescribes  an  appropriate  remedy  at  the  proper
time, and orders its disuse when it is no longer necessary,
exhibits in each case, equally, his good judgment; and,
in each case, confers upon his patient the like benefit.
   (Quinine is a remedy highly and universally esteemed.
In certain complaints, it is valued above any other,  and
perhaps all other, remedies ; yet its  use, there can be no
doubt, in too many instances, has degenerated to abuse.
When taken in too large quantities, or continued beyond
the necessities of the disease  for which it was given, it
has superinduced a derangement of the digestive organs,
and an irritable nervous temperament of a  most  obsti-
nate character.
   Etherization,  or the  process by which  a person is
temporarily brought  into a state insensible to pain by
the inhalation of ether,  that  he  may be better enabled
                          6 
62
MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES  OF
to endure a surgical  operation, seems, to the natural
apprehension at least, to be the highest gift which could
be vouchsafed  to man  under the  experience of  the
severest pain.   But the abuses of the use  of ether are
already known,  even  of the grossest character; and
there is  great  reason  to fear that  such misuse  of its
influence  is fast  increasing.
  We will not  mention  particularly other  cases  of the
use,  sometimes  abused, of other remedial  agents;  but
are ready to admit in general terms, that the perversion
of use is incident to every medicinal agent worthy of  a
place in our dispensatories, and esteemed by the Faculty.
The  highest and most beneficent influences wrested to the
worst purposes,  or good degraded  to evil, may be too
often witnessed in every department  of life, civil, moral,
and religious.   The great questions propounded for our
solution,  in all these cases, are, first, whether the  abuse
of good  is,  in  any wise, a necessity of its  use.   All
candid and fair-minded men must answer this  question
in the negative; although there are some, — who, it
would seem, are neither impartial nor intelligent, — who,
by their peculiar  casuistry, discountenance  certain high
uses, on  account  of their possible, perhaps we should
say frequent, perversion.  Let  us, in all  cases,  accept
the  use,  and,  as far  as possible,  eschew the  abuse.
Good of  every kind was designed for a blessing.  It
flows freely and continually into every open form of
use,  into every  instrumentality which can  confer  a
benefit on man.  A good thing  can become evil, only
by a perversion of its inmost beneficence to selfish and
base purposes.   The abuse of a good influence is not  a 
THE  VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
63
necessity, but a wanton perversion of the gifts it  ever
seeks to bestow.   The  second interrogatory — namely,
whether it is  proper, in any case, to decline the good,
from a fear that it may be wrested in our hands to evil
— should also be promptly  answered in the negative.
It is our duty to  receive every good gift which comes
to us, co-operating in  our freedom, to the end that it
may accomplish  in  us  the purpose  whereunto it was
sent; ever avoiding, as  far  as  possible, all perversion
of its influence.
  But we do not propose  to dwell  on the subject  of
ethics, except so far as  a great moral principle is in-
volved in the matter under consideration;  and we will
now close our paper by offering a very brief resume  of
the principal  points or facts  we have herein endea-
vored to establish, more by the authorities we have cited
in the footnotes,  than by our own convictions  or  argu-
ments in the  matter.
  It is admitted that infusions, decoctions, syrups, fluid and
solid extracts, compounded by the assistance of  artificial
heat, do not dissolve, and retain in a permanent form,
any of the most  active and  valuable  properties of the
medicinal substances of the  vegetable kingdom;   even
the astringency of plants, which is  more  readily ex-
tracted by water,  being either entirely " decomposed,"
or, at best, " greatly injured  by the boiling and evapo-
rating process."  This seems to be conceded as the rule
which applies  to these forms of  preparation.   To this
rule,  there are, without doubt, some exceptions: —
  That the convenient and proper exhibition  of reme-
dies of  the vegetable class, in  substance or in powder, 
64
MEDICINAL  SUBSTANCES  OF
is confined to few articles comparatively; and that even
these few, under the greatest care, suffer a considerable
loss of their active qualities by the necessary process of
preparing them for powdering; and, in some instances,
by the process through which they are  reduced to this
form.
  That the pill mass presents a better and more retentive
form  for  a certain  (though quite limited)  number of
remedies, expecially for  the purgative  gum-resins and
the active  narcotic  extracts.
  That " the simple remedies " cannot  be  permanently
preserved  in their  full  activity  in an uncompounded
state, even under the greatest care; and that, without
such care, they soon decline in  value, and frequently
become worthless ;  in many cases, still preserving  the
external appearance of their original value.
  That when the " simples" are taken even  in full
strength, and compounded in an aqueous menstruum, by
the continued appliance of heat, as directed in the for-
mularies, their valuable  properties  are  dissipated  in
vapor:  thus the result of the composition would be the
same, whether active or inert ingredients were used.
  It is admitted that proof-spirit will extract all of the
essential medicinal virtues of plants, and  will preserve
the same in full strength for an indefinite period.   Age
improves tinctures, and ages will not injure them;  and,
if there be any exceptions  to this rule, they  are no
more than sufficient to establish  its  truth.
  Thus it appears that the physician may always have
at command a class of remedies  of whose operative
powers he  is well assured.  The apothecary also, if he 
THE  VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
65
employ good and fresh materials in the composition of
his tinctures, may dispense the same, with the confident
assurance that they contain all the  valuable and healing
properties which the component parts possessed when
gathered in their proper season, and found, on deliberate
examination, to be in their highest state of perfection.
   We have also endeavored to show, not from  specific
citations of proof in the case,  but from collateral cir-
cumstances which seem to  have  a legitimate  bearing
upon the subject, that the use of  tinctures, filly satu-
rated with active medicinal principles, will not — cannot,
it would  seem — beget  a rising appetite for spirituous
liquors.   Strong medications, even in those  forms best
 accommodated to the taste,  are ever more  or  less un-
 pleasant, and increasingly so in proportion to the  con-
 tinuance  of their  use; which use  almost invariably
 begets a disrelish or disgust, instead of a love, for spirit-
 uous liquors.
   We would now submit, that the main facts and prin-
 ciples we have herein presented, which relate principally
 to the collection and preservation of vegetable medicines,
 and especially to the most eligible and  efficient forms
 of their  prescription, are  well established by  the evi-
 dence we have adduced from current, standard authori-
 ties.  A part of this evidence, we are  ready  to allow,
 partakes somewhat of the character of reluctant admis-
 sions, but  which,  perhaps,  are  not the less  valuable
 because  they  are unwillingly made.
    If our premises have been sustained, what are  the
 obvious  duties of the physician?  He should, at  his
 leisure, carefully select his  remedies, which are found, 
66
THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.
on proper examination, to be fresh and in full force, and
immediately prepare the  same for future  use  in  such a
manner as will best dissolve  and retain their virtues.
Thus he will ever have at hand remedies whose  active
powers he well knows;  and thus will he possess  a  pri-
mary advantage over those who frequently, in the hurry
of the moment, avail of an extemporaneous prescription,
compounded, perhaps, under the disadvantages of haste,
and  possibly from  materials which have  declined in
virtue, yet still preserving a sound  and good exterior
appearance.   Nor will the conscientious physician, who
appreciates the advantages frequently arising from the
preparation and prescription of alcoholic tinctures, be
deterred from  their use  by the persistent  opposition,
open or covert, which has been made to their employ-
ment.  The doctrine which of late has been so generally
inculcated,  that some  of the good gifts which come
down to us, striving, as  it were, to flow forth into the
ultimate forms of human  blessing, must be declined, lest
the reception of their influence  might be perverted to
evil, is a pernicious doctrine, of presumptuous import,
and entirely unworthy of a truly philosophic and Chris-
tian age. 
 
 
 
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