ARISTOLOCHIA SERPENTARIA. 
active principles of Serpentaria therefore appear to reside in a 
bitter resin and an essential oil. “On distillation a white 
pearly fluid collects in the receiver, strongly impregnated with 
the aroma, but less bitter than the root. This fluid on stand- 
ing deposits round the edges of its surface small crystals of 
camphor.” Bigelow. 
.  Artstonocuia Serpenrarta is one of the most valuable 
and well established of our native remedies. It is much used 
in pharmacy, and enters into the composition of many extem- 
poraneous preparations. The root is stimulating, diaphoretic, 
and tonic. It is almost entirely destitute of smell, with, at 
first, a sweetish taste, but afterwards hot and pungent, pro- 
ducing a very peculiar tingling sensation in the fauces. It is 
beneficially employed in typhoid and putrid fevers, whether 
idiopathic or accompanying the exanthemata, to excite dia- 
phoresis, and support the powers of the system, and is found 
frequently to increase the efficacy of cinchona in removing 
protracted intermittents. It is administered with success in 
gangrenous affections, chlorosis, and atonic affections of the 
intestinal canal, and generally in all the cases in which it be- 
comes necessary to stimulate powerfully the organs and to 
promote at the same time a slight diaphoresis. It is also an 
excellent remedy in dyspepsia, particularly when the skin is 
dry and parched. It must be observed, that it acts on the 
skin by stimulating this membrane and increasing perspira- 
tion. It is also sometimes used as a gargle in putrid sore- 
throat. On account of its stimulant properties, it is contra- 
indicated in the inflammatory diathesis, and previous to its 
exhibition the bowels should be well evacuated. It may be 
given in substance (of the powdered root the dose is from 
20 to 30 grains), or in Be ee is almost always pre- 
ferred), made by macerating half an ounce of the bruised root 
in a pint of boiling water in a covered vessel for two hours, 
and straining. This is the ordinary form in which Serpen- 
taria is employed. The dose is one or two fluid ounces, 
repeated every two hours in low forms of fever, but less 
frequently in chronic affections. Decoction is a bad form 
_ of preparation of Serpentaria, as the boiling dissipates the 
essential oi rhi the virtue of the remedy 
: . PENTARIA is to be found will render the plate particularly use- 
fal, as it will enable the practitioner and apothecary to detect 
Routhern Ginte 94.0 ie 
shops, it consists of a tuft of long, slen- 
_ this well-characterized species in almost every forest of the 
