Hydrastis Canadensis. 24 
have two or three times found it on the Wissahickon creek, near 
Germantown. The young plants which appear in midsummer have 
but a single leaf. (For the Chemical Analysis, see Appendix.) 
MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. 
The medicinal yirtues of Hydrastis, reside in the root. When 
dried, it has a strong and somewhat narcotic smell, and it is exceed- 
ingly bitter. Hence spirituous infusions of it are used, and recom- 
mended by country practitioners, for their tonic effect. It isa com- 
mon practice in some parts of our country, particularly in Kentucky. 
in the vicinity of the falls of Ohio, to use a cold, strained infusion, in 
inflammation of the eyes. This fact was known to. the late Pro- 
fessor Barton Who has mentioned it in his “ Collections; and on 
his authority it has been introduced into our Dispensatories. This 
plant has been described to me by a gentleman of my class from 
Kentucky, as being much used in the manner just mentioned, The 
commendations which have been bestowed on yellow-root, have, 
unfortunately, not been confined, as perhaps they should have been, 
to the bitter-tonic. virtues which it indubitably possesses ; buta mere. 
supposition, rather inadvertently thrown out by the late Professor 
Barton, that “ the Cherokee Indians employ a plant in the cure of 
cancer, which is thought to be Hydrastis,” has caused some persons 
