140 GENTIANA CATESB&I. 
appears to reside in a bitter extractive: principle, 
soluble in both alcohol and water. A little resin 
is developed by the pearly appearance which the 
tincture assumes on the addition of water. ‘The 
decoction, howeyer, is nearly equal in bitterness 
to the tincture, and both these solutions exhibit 
this property much more powerfully than the 
root in substance. No astringency appears in 
this root, and nothing remarkable in the distilled 
water. 
I have found the root of this plant in a variety 
of instances in which I have used it, to resemble 
very nearly the imported Gentian in its proper- 
ties, being but little inferior to it in strength or 
efficacy. Like that substance it invigorates. the 
stomach and gives relief in complaints arising 
from indigestion. Dr. Macbride, at whose sug- 
gestion I first employed it, entertained a high 
opinion of its tonic power in cases of debility of 
the stomach and digestive organs, 
In Mr. Elliott's Botany of the Southern States, 
we are told, that in the form of a decoction it is 
used with decided advantage in cases of pheumon- 
ic, where the fever is nervous, and that it acts as 
a tonic and sudorific, A tincture of it is esteem. 
ed as a remedy in dyspepsia, given in doses of one 
fourth or half an ounce. It is said to increase 
