CAROLINA PINK ROOT. 145 
ed, without positive proof of the existence of the 
cause which they are intended to remove ; which 
often fail altogether in the hands of the most sue- 
cessful practitioners ; which frequently succeed 
merely because they are backed with medicines 
of a more active class ; and whose apparent suc- 
cess is sometimes the consequence solely of a dis- 
eased state of the body.* Our plant is however 
entitled to trial, especially where it can be obtain- 
ed fresh, and in full strength. A physician of the 
southern states; for whose opinion I have much 
respect, Dr. Norcom of Edenton, N. C. inform- 
ed me some years since, that the Spigelia was 
* From the list of equivocal anthelmintics, I would except those 
which have a cathartic operation, also a number of mineral origin. 
But fam fully persuaded, that many reputed vermifuges have en-> 
joyed a reputation which they donot deserve. The Dolichos pruriens 
has received the commendations of practitioners and medical writers, 
on the presumption that its spiculze exert the same stimulant effect on 
the bodies of worms in the alimentary canal, that ‘they do on the au- 
man skin externally. I was long ago inclined to doubt the power 
of these spicule to withstand the digestive process of the stomach. 
My suspicions were confirmed upon finding that simple macera- 
tion in warm water for an nour, dissolves their virus, and renders 
them incapable of producing their usual stimulus of itching, when 
applied to the skin, Some late experiments by my pupil, Dr. Chan- 
dler, have shewn that the gastric juice destroys their ie in the 
same manner. 
It is not necessary in this place to revert to the Fern root of Mad- 
-ame Nouffer, and various other exploded anthelmintics of its kind. 
