o 



/ 



192 



various experiment's 



relating to 



this fubjed have been ill 



a 



e 



fro 



m 



which it appears that the colouring-matter of Madder affefts the bones 

 in a very fhort time, and that the moil foHd, or hardeft,'part of the 

 bones lirfl: receives the red colour, which gradually extends, ab extcrno\ 



throui^h the whole olTeous fubftance, while the animal continues 

 to take the Madder ; and if this root be alternately intermitted and 

 employed for a fufficieiit length of time, and at proper intervals, the 

 bones are found to be coloured in a correfpondent number of con- 

 centric circles. Accordins; to Lewis, " the roots of Madder have 



a bitteriih fomewhat auftere tafte, and a flight fmeli not of the 



They impart to water a dark red tindure, to rec 



agreeable kind. 



tified fpirit, and to diftilled oils, a bright red ; both the watery and 



ipirituous tindures tafle ftrongly of the Madder. 



>? f 



aeter 



e 



nt 



3 



by medicinal writers, has been confidered as a deobftruent, 



diuretic, and is chiefly ufed in the jaundice, dropfy, 





proceed from vifceral obftrudions, 



and other difeafes fappofed to 



particularly thofe of the liver and kidneys \ and fome modern authors 



have recommended it as an emmenagogue,^ and in rickety afFedions. 



With regard to its diuretic quality, for which there are many refpe 



Dr. Cullen aiTerts, that in many trials both for this 



table authorities, 



T 



and other purpofes, fucn an 



effed 



is not conflant, having never oc 



curred to him. i\s a remedy for the jaundice, it has the authority of 



Sydenham, and was formerly an ingredient in the decodum ad ideros 

 of th 



than to the difeafe itfelf, this decodion was expunged. 



anain, auu way iuimeriy an ingreuient m tne aecocium aa icieius 

 e Edin. Pharm. but as it feemed more adapted to \\\^fi^ces albidcs 

 to the difeafe itfelf, this decodion was exnunQ-ed. That fome 



French writers fliould prefcribe Madder in a rickety flate of the bones, 

 appears a little furprifmg, as the brute animals, to which it was given 



efpecially the younger, fuffered confiderable emaciation and proflra 



> 



tion of flrength from its efFeds. Its virtues, as an emmenagogue, reil 



principally on the authority of Dr. Home, who gave from a fcruple to 

 half a dram of the powder, or two ounces of the decodion, three or four 



J 



(( 



times a day. But this medicine failed with Dr. Cullen, who alfo fays 

 " I know of other praditioners in this country, who, after feveral 

 meffedual trials made with it, have now entirely deferted its ufe."" 



See Home's Clinical Experiments, p. 388. ^ Levret. I c» 



)> 1 



"f Mat. Med. p. 546. 



and Mi, 



s 



at. Med. vol. ii. p. 39. 



RUMEX ACETOSA 



/ 



^ 



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y 



