^ovfiTcn. KORTUS JAMAI-CENSIS; 2i7 



ftaver knew it to fail ; bin I will say, that I liave experiencecl more certain gooJ effects, 

 ^nd fewer ill consequences, tlian i'loiii any other medicine, gi^'cn with the same inten- 

 ftpn ; insoiniicb, that I have, since I first beg'aii to exhibit the ccwiia-ge, had no occa- 

 sion to look for any other venaiiuge. 



" The won lerfui' antl salutary elTects v^^ich I saw from the use of this niedicine, 

 both in my own pro-ctice, and that of others^ among whom it Qhtainad the same uni- 

 versality, and Ukemse among those, who, thougli not. in the medical line, freely ad- , 

 jninistered it, both to their ovvn cliildren and their negroes, witliout any dread of ill . 

 coosequencesj induced me, from the very first,, to commit to. paper my observations 

 relative to the exhibition and effects of cowhage .; hoping that it might be no unaccept- 

 iable service to the comuinnity,. to introduce into general practice in England, a medi- 

 cine which, in the West Indies, is of such vyell known and indisputable efHcacy. i 

 shall, for the present, beg leg.ve to give the remainder of this' account of the cowhage 

 or cowitch, in the words of those gentlemen who have obliged the world with an accu- 

 rate description, of this pjp,nt, and its uses, takeiv from tlie second volume o{ the Me- 

 dical Commentaries.."" 



Extract of a letter from IVIr. Thomas Cochrane, surgeon, at Nevis, to Mr. John Bal- 

 four, surgeon at Edinburgh ; conccrninu- the use of cov/haije, as an anthelmintic : 

 From the Medical Commentaries, vol. 2, part 1, page 82 : 



" Tliere is a medicine which is much used here agairi&t worms. Planters give it to 

 the negroes with great success ; and I have ordered it myseif both to, children and 

 adults with very certain good effects. The plant is here called covvhage, arid is fur- 

 iiished with the ^iliqua hirsuta of Linnaeus, The parts which are used are the hairy 

 spiculoe, scraped from the pods, and mixed with syrup. They are supposed to act by 

 promoting the peristaltic motion of the guts., and (iricking the worms. The dose is not 

 exactly limited ; but the spicule obtained from a single pod are esteemed a sufRcient 

 dose for a child o,f seven or eight years old. 



" This remedy is perfectly safe and iiinoceBt, although it occasions some uneasiness 

 upon beiiig first tjiken.* I have seen large clusters of worms come away from the pa- 

 tients on the first dose. It is given at bed-time, and a purge in the morning. This 

 practice is repeated after fin interval of two days ; and it is seldom necessary to give 

 riiore than ij second dgse." 



" From aa accurate description, it appears, that'the cowhage is the fl''o//fAo5 /JJ'iU'/- 

 ens of i^inasus. Mr. Kerr has said nothing with regard to its medicinal virtues ; but, 

 in confirmation of Mr. Cochrane's account, we shall here present our readers with the 

 testimony given concerning it by iVIr. Bancroft, in his Essay on the Natural History of 

 Guiana in South America', a work pyblisiied at EoiiLdou some years ago. 



" 'After mentioning the frequency of disorders arising from worms in that part of 

 tjie world, and assigning some reason for it, he adds, ' IJnt, from whatever cause these 

 worms arc produced, their number is so great, that the usual remedies are very insuf- 

 ficient for their dcstructioi\ ; for which reason the planters in general have recourse to 

 the cowhage for that purpose. From whence its use was first suggested I am uncer- 

 tain ; but its e[}icact/ is indisputable. Tiie part used is the setaceous hairv substance, 

 growing on the outside of the pod, which is scraped off and mixed with common syrup 

 i>r meiasses, to the consistence of a thin electuary, of which a tea spoonful to a child 



ot 



" Not if the syrup be thick enoHgh; hiil, if the vehicle be too thin,' or in a state of fermentation, the 

 -teta; occa-ion a tidiling ia the (Uuccs, anj arc sepcrated from their vehicle by the action of the tontjue, *ual 

 ;^c out," 



