.1^" " 
28 
^ 
The root is tlie only part of the plant which is ufed medlcmally j 
It has a ftrong ftyptic tafte, but imparts no peculiar fapid flavour. 
As aproof of its powerful aftringency, it has been fubflituted for oak 
^bark in the tanning of fkins for leather/ This root has been long held 
in great eftimation by phyficians, as a very ufeful ailringent ; and as 
the refin''it contains is very inconfiderable, it feems more particularly 
adapted to thofe cafes where the heating and ftimulating medicines of 
this clafs are lefs proper ; as phthifical diarrhoeas, diarrhoea cruenta, 
&c. 
Dr. Cullen " thinks '* it has been juftly commended for every 
virtue that is competent to aftrin 
ents, 
and fays, " I myfelf have 
had feveral inftances of its virtues in this refped ; and particularly I 
have found it, both by itfelf and as joined with gentian, cure inter^ 
mittent fevers ; but it muft be given in fubilance, and in large 
(' 
^ 
quantities." Riitty recommends it in thefe v/ords : *^ Ulcera Vetera 
& putrida fanat vino vei aqua deco£ta collutione & infperfu. In vino 
coda optime deterget & roberat, in ulceribus fcorbuticis oris, gutturis, 
& faucium ac in gingivis diiTolutis, fanguinem ftillantibus. Decoda 
ad appetitum deperditum maxime valet, tonum ventriculi reftituens, 
& fordes ejus abftergens. 
Non eft vegetabile 
quod in fluxionibus 
alvi efficacius fit. In dyfenterea epidemica quidam in ore tenent ad 
prsecavendum contagium. 
involuntario valet." '^ 
In fluxu fanguinis, fluore albo, & midu 
"> 
/ 
/ 
This root may be given in powder from half a dram to one dram 
or more for a dofe, but it is more generally given in decodion, 
_^ 
and the following form is recommended by Lewis : An ounce and 
an half of the powdered root is direded to be boiled in three pints 
of water to a quart, adding, towards the end of the boiling, a dram 
of cinnamon: of the ftrained liquor, fweetened with an ounce of 
any agreeable fyrup, two ounces or more may be taken four or five 
times a day. • 
Tormentil is ordered in the pulvis e creta compolitus of the 
London Pharmacopoeia. 
, - r 
* Bartholini Aft. Med. Hafn. v. i. p. 88. and it has been obferved, that the leather 
has been perfe6led in lefs time than when oak bark was ufed. Muf. Ruft. vol. 2. n. I2. 
p. 51. ^ It gives out its aftringency both to water and redified fpirit, moft perfe6Hy to 
the latter. The extracts obtained by infpifTation, are intenfely ftyptic, the fpirituous 
moft fo. Lewis's Mat. Med. 6ka. 
Cullen's Mat. Med. vol, 2. p. 36 
Rutty 's Mat. Med. 5 
t' 
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