INTRODUCTION. 5 



17. Thus we shall furnish our share towards a great 

 work not yet undertaken, although greatly needed, a 

 General and Comparative Account of all the Medical Plants 

 of the whole globe, for which the Medical Floras of Europe, 

 Hindostan, Brazil, West Indies, and the United States, 

 begin to offer the materials. 



18. All our numberless officinal works on Materia 

 Medica, are as yet mere rude or partial attempts of this 

 kind. Not one has ever mentioned one tenth of the plants 

 in actual usej the authors confining themselves to the 

 narrow circle of their own experience or knowledge. 



19. During the period that has elapsed since the pub- 

 lication of the first volume, I have been able to consult 

 many additional works and authors, and thus availed 

 myself of their help. A list of them will follow this in- 

 troduction. 



20. I have received considerable assistance in that way 

 from some public Libraries, such as those of the Philoso- 

 phical Society of Philadelphia, and the Lyceum of Nat. 

 History of New York for instance, and also from the 

 Medical Library of my friend Dr. S. Betton of German- 

 town. 



21. In Bartram's Botanical Garden near Philadelphia, 

 now owned by Colonel Carr, which is the oldest and best 

 of the kind in the United States, and particularly rich in 

 native plants, I have met with the most liberal assistance, 

 from the worthy owner. 



22. By these various means the practical value of this 

 work has been increased; the first volume was well re- 

 ceived, notwithstanding its limited range, and adopted as 

 a text book in some Medical Institutions. I trust that 

 this volume will be found still more practical and useful. 



23. The number of plates will amount to 100 as pro- 

 mised, but including 106 figures. A few of the figures 

 of Bigelow and Barton belonging to well known plants 

 may be omitted, but the number of those rrot figured by 

 them will be increased, amounting to 32 in this volume, 

 while only 14 were in the first 



24. It might have been well if I had omitted the 

 figures of the Dogwood, Persimon, and Hops in the first 

 volume, being so well known to almost every body, and I 



will accordingly omit in this the Poke, Tobacco, TuHp- 



A 2 



