\ 
45 
without the ufe of mercury 
55 
The Flowers^ or blofToms, are laxat 
and in Jamaica are commonly given to children in the form of fyrup 
which in appearance much refembles that of 
It 
V 
nly the 
wood and refm of Guaiacum which are now in general medical ufe 
Europ 
d 
the efficacy of the former is fuppofed to be derived 
rely from the quantity of refmous matter which 
may be con 
was firft inti 
of America, 
h 
ams, they 
Guaiacum 
d in the Materia Medica foon after the difcovery 
d previous to the proper ufe of mercury in the 
icierea mdifcriminately as the fame medicin 
venerea, it was the principal remedy employed for the cure of that 
eat fuccefs brought it into fuch repute, that it is 
-^ 
iifeafe 
d 
g 
faid to have been fold for feven gold crowns a pound ;' but notwith 
Handing the very numerous teftimonies in its favour J, it often failed 
in 
curing 
the patient 
and 
W'l'? 
as 
at 
gth 
ely fuperfeded 
cury; and though it be ftill occafionally employed in fyphilis 
yet it is rather wit 
corre<3: other vitia in the habit, than 
for 
s 
effects as an antivenereal.* 
he 
g 
virtues of Guaiacum are flated by Berg 
to be 
( 
mundiiicans,^ fudorifera, diuretica, fubcalefaciens, ftomacTiica, and its 
ufe to be in fyphihs, arthritisjf morbi cutis, odontalgia; "and to thefe 
we may add chronic rheumatifm, fcrophula, and fome fcirrhous 
difeafes 
To Dr. Cullen Guaiacum feei 
g 
to the na- 
ture of the balfams and turpentines, he therefore fuppofes it like 
I 
m 
celebrkatis dedit felix curatio, quam in infula St. Domlnlcl Hifpanus. 
quidam fuperioris ordinis, qui morbum ab India muliere contraxerat, jam doloribus. 
diris detentus, fuadente famulo fuo Indo^ ex iioc ligno la femet experiebatur. Ejus 
exempio praseunte, plures alii Hifpani eodem modo contaminati ad idem auxilium faufto- 
fucceflu confugerunt., Qiiod quum poft reditum Hifpali ab hifce evulgaretur, hinc per- 
totam Hifpaniam,&; Inde per totum reliquum orbem, auem lues occupaverat.fama remedii 
ijncrebuit., Monardes S 
Med 
And 
P- ?4 
M 
I 
Sp 
Med 
508 
3 
Mafla de Morb 
7 
egno fanto. Vcnet. 1520). 
^ Vide Friend^s Hift. vol. 2. p, 365. And 
una feutatis aureis undecim veniret., % Vide Bohm D ^ _^.„.. 
* Perhaps the opinbas and f^ias adduced by Boerhaave, Aftruc, Plenk, De Haen, 
Hutten, and lately by Mr. Hunter, may be confidered in fome meafure as exceptions.— 
1 he lalt of thefe authors remarks,, that the Guaiacum was firft ufed In Europe as a 
remedy for the Syphilis in 1517 ; but from the authority we have cited above., it appears 
to have been employed nine years fooner. 
t Though upon the authority of Mead, Pringle,. and others, Guaiacum has been 
r" „:!"'P /n^;? '") rheumatifms, yet it was of little eftimation in the gout till Mr. 
Martinico, publifhed his letters about thirteen years ago, (Specifique centre 
'■) \- ' ^ Mat,, Med. 346.. , . 
* thefe 
T- 
ia goutte, &c 
