52 APOCYmritt. No. f. 



emetic, alterative and syphilitic. The root is the 

 most powerful part : but it must be used fresh, since 

 time diminishes or destroys its power. At the dose 

 of thirty grains of the fresh powdered root, it acts as 

 an emetic, equal to Ipecacuana ; in smaller doses it is 

 a tonic, useful in dyspepsia and fevers. The Chicka- 

 saw and Choctaw Nations employ it in syphilis, and 

 consider it a specific, they use the fresh root chewed, 

 .swallowing only the juice. This later use has beeu 

 introduced into Tennessee and Kentucky as a great 

 secret. It must act as a tonic in all those cases, to- 

 nics being often emetic and anti venereal. An ob- 

 jection to this plant is its nauseous bitter taste. Many 

 substitutes may be found of a less disagreeable na- 

 ture. 



Substitutes — Ipecacuana — E up at or mm per Jo- 

 liaium — Prenanthes opicrina— Lobelia siphilitka 



Aletris farinosa — Sanicula marilandica-^Eu- 



phorbia CoroUafa §* E. Ipecacuana Frasera 



Mezeyeon — Guayacum, &c. and all bitter tonics or 

 emetics. 



Re^iarks — Barton and Henry have not mentioned 

 this plant. Bigelow represents it with leaves too 

 sharp or acuminate. All the other species of the same 

 genus have the same properties in a lesser degree- 

 The A. cannabinum is distinguished from this by 

 smaller leaves and flowers in shorter panicles ; ^vhile 

 the Jl. hypericifolium has prostrated sipms \vlth nar- 



and lakes. 



ST0^^ 



