100 Coptis trifolia. 
attached obliquely across their sides, to the inside. This little alpine 
evergreen is restricted to Canada and some of our most northerly 
states.* It is found in sphagnous swamps, and in cold situations most 
abundantly, flowering in the month of May. 
MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. 
The root of gold-thread is a pure and powerful bitter, devoid of 
any thing like astringency, and yielding its virtues readily to watery 
menstrua, though its bitterness is equally well given out to spirit. It is 
used in both ways, in the New England states, where, according to 
Dr. Thacher, it has long been a popular remedy for apthous affections 
of the mouth in children; and the doctor says, “ experience has evinc- 
ed its beneficial effects.*> He informs us, also, that it is considerably 
employed as a stomachic bitter in debility of the stomach and loss of 
appetite. Professor Bigelow states, that larger quantities of this article 
are sold in the druggists’ shops of Boston, than of almost any other 
indigenous production; and that the demand arises from its reputed 
efficacy as a local application in apthous and other ulcerations of the 
mouth. He thinks, however, that its reputation in these cases is 
* My specimens were brought to me from New England, in 1814, by a physician of 
this city, and a large quantity of the root, which had belonged to the late Professor 
Barton, fell into my hands after his death. 
