■^ 



254 



gei%'r.en is oblong, and fupports a fimple ered: ftyle, furniflied with a 

 cloven ftigma : the capfule is inverfely hear t-ili aped, and contains 



p> 



frnail oblone feeds. 



This plant is a native of Virginia, and other parts of North America 

 It was firft cultivated in England in 1759, by Mr. P. Miller," who has 

 publifhed a figure of it, which vnll be found to accord very accurately 

 with the icon here annexed, which w^as drawn from the plant now in 

 flower at the Royal garden at Kew. " This root, of no remarkable fmell 



has a peculiar kind of fubtile pungent penetrating tafte.'' Its virtue is 



extracted both by water and 



3 »- 



h the povidcY in fubft 



luppofed to be more effectual than either the decodion or tiudu 

 The watery decodtion, on fnil tailing, f 

 peculiar pungency of the root quickly difc 



b 



e 



fpreading throu^-h 



the fauces, or exciting a copious difchargc of faliva, and freq 

 Linnasus obferves, a fhort cough : thofe to whom I have direded 



medicine, have generally found a little Madeira mod elTeaual for 



removing its tafte fi'om the mouth, and making it fit eafy 

 ftomach. A tindure of the root, in redilied fpirit, is of more fiery 



pungency, extremely durable in the mouth and throat, and apt to 



promote vomiting or reaching.'" Rattlefnake-root was firft intro- 

 duced to the attention of phyficians about fixty years ago, by Dr. 



1 Tennent,'' whofe intercourfe with the Indian nations led him 





to difcover that they poifefled a fpecitlc medicine againil the poifon 

 of the rattlefnake,!! which, in confequence of a fuitable reward, was 

 revealed to him, and found to be the root of this olant, w^hich the 



t. 



Indians employed both internally and externally." Cafes afterwards 

 occurred, by which he w^as fully convinced of the efficacy of this 

 medicine from his own experience. And as the Dodor obferved, 



fpec 



Sap 



Bit^. Ed. 7. n. K. See Ho-t. K 



596 



Lewis, M. M. p. siS. «» See his Phyftcal Difqmfitions, P. 2. Lond. l-JZS' 

 I A fortiori,^ It is prefumed to cure the poifonous effcds of other ferpents, as being 



lefs virulent. 



S 

 C o\ ub 



•P 



fis 



\ 



yulnerabatur fub gravifTimoruai fyprntomatum fatcilitio, fed duabus unice dofibus ab ill. 



L 



Amxi, Acad. vol. vi. p. 214 



Ciiewed ^and applied to the wound, or in the form of a cataplafm 



th 



\ 



