.^yft'vm HORTUS J AMAI C ENSIfe, 24 



Ciany parts, to all patients afBicteJ vvfili complaints arisieg, or supposed to arise, from 

 svfOi'ais ; anJ tli;it, Q^-t only by regular pructitiop.er-^, but even by ly^noratit negroes, at 

 random, and without any jujt propurtion in tiiie dose ; This v/a,s stinolohiunt,* or 

 cowhage. 



" Satisfied, as I said before, of the cabbage-rbark-tree, I had never given myself the 

 trouble to make enquiry about any other more powerful vermifu.ge ; nor did I think 

 tiiere could be one in;)re powerful, until the death of a negro girl, evidently occasioned, 

 .as aj6peared upon my opening her, froai vast numbers of woiras lodged in the small in- 

 testi.ies, convinced me that I ha 1 not done my duty, and cKcited me to push my en- 

 quiries in search oi a more efiicacious medicine ^till farther. "^ 



" I had Jjcard so much of the cowhage or co\v-itch, that i resolved to raake trial of 

 it ; but the didbrent modes of e?:hibiting it were as various as the persons who took 

 upon them that office, One administered it in molasses j castor oil was the favourite 

 vehicle of a second; and a third irisiste(( that U was of no service unless mixed with 

 honey. The greater number agreed in giving tnolasses the preference ; but there was 

 even among these a considerable disagreement with regard to the pFO|>ortions to be ob- 

 served m the mixture. While some cautiously put two pods'bf the cowhage in a quart 

 of melasses, others boldl}' stirred up two dozen in a like quantity. Some again-would 

 have six pods to be sutficient ; and others imagineil that some secret virtue or charm 

 was to be expected,' from having the number neither greater nor less than exactly . 



" By some the 5<'te contained on the outside of a- single pod, mixed witli one or 

 two table spoonfuls of syrup, honey, or mclas>es, was given for a single dose, without 

 distinction, to young and old. By others, a quantity uf each ingredient was mixed to- 

 gether, without bearing any proportion to each other, farther than was merely suffici- 

 ent to bring the composition to the consistence of an electuary ; and one, two, or three, 

 tea spoonfuls given as a dose to children ; and one, and sometimes two, table spoonfuls 

 to adults. As far as I could learn, however different the compositions and proportions 

 of the ingredients^ the effects were found to be nearly the same in all ages, sexes, and 

 constitutions. 



" I considered, that the wonderful eflicacv so generally attributed to the cowhage, 

 could not be supposed to arise from any specific medicinal quality residing in it, so 

 much as from tlie sharpness and elasticity of the setas, with which the pods are covered, 

 which take the same effect on worms as they do when applied to our skin. The setse 

 piercing, vellicating, and tormenting, them in such a manner as obliges them to let 

 go their hold ; acting like so many needles, as may be plainly demonstrated by. viewing 

 the setic through a microscope ; which shews them to be a number of long spiculte, 

 needle-shaped, hollow, transparent, and armed with points, exquisitely sharp and 

 iine. 



" The idea that their action is merely mechanical is supported by the observations 

 of several very judicious enquirers, who have made trial of the cowhage, particularly 

 X)r. Leake ; who, in his Lectures on the Tlieorii and Practice of Midui'ifcri/, and Dis- 

 eases incident tg Children, enumerates the cowhage among the most effectual of those 

 remedies, gtven to children, for warms. He supposes that it acts in the same m:inner 

 as hair, cut fine, and given with the same intention but much more effectual, because 

 <jf its iiillexibility, and the exquisite and almost inconceivable sharpness of its points. 



*' Curio.U| 



So named by Browija, 



