t^ FAMILY HERBAL, 



agreeable to the stomachy good against sicknesse© 

 and Teachings. 



The Rattle-Snake Root Plant. Seneca. 



A SMA-LL plantj^ native of America^ with weak 

 stalks^ little leaves, and white flowers. It grows a 

 foot high. The stalks are numerous, weak/ and 

 round, few of them stand quite uprighf, some gene- 

 I ally lie upon the ground. The leaves stand irre- 

 gularly : they are oblong and somewhat broad, and 

 of a pale green^ The flowers are little and white ; 

 they stand in a kind of loose spikes, at the tops of 

 the stalks, and perfectly resemble those of thft 

 conimon plant we call milkwort, of which it is in- 

 deed a kind: the whole plant has very much the 

 aspect of the taller kind of our English milkwort. 

 The root is of a singular form : it is long, irregu- 

 lar, slender, and divided inlo many parts, and these 

 have on each side, a kind of n&etnbranous margin 

 hanging from them, which makes it distinct in its 



appearance, from all the other roots used in the 

 shops. , 



We owe the knowledge of this medicine, origi- 

 nally to' the Indians : they give it as a remedy 

 against the poison of the rattle-snake, but it ha& 

 been extolled, as possessing great virtues. Dr. 

 Tennant brought it into England, and we received 

 it as a powerful remedy against pleurisies, quinzies, 

 and all other diseases where the blood was sizev : it 

 was said to dissolve this dangerous texture, better 

 than all other known medicines ; but experience 

 does not seem to have warranted altogether these 

 effects, for it is at present neglected, after a great 

 njauy and very fair trials. 



^hen this remedy was discovered to he the 

 »oot of a kind of polygala, which discovery was 



