pa ae 
te 
2 
Srinkine Gooseroor. Chenopodium Fetidu 
This plant rises near a foot in height ; leaves numerous, mealy, 
and alternate ; flowers small and inconspicuous, of a light green, and 
placed in clusters, but has no seed vessel. It grows near old walls, 
old ruins, dunghills, &c. flowers in August, and in its fresh state has 
the smell of putrid salt fish. : 
_ The green leaves are excellent medicine in hysteric and spasmo- 
dic complaints. In all hysteric fits, give the patient a teaspoonful 
of the juice, or two tea spoonsful of the dried leaves, in a little pep- 
permint or pennyroyal water, every two hours, which gener: 
gives immediate relief, quicker and more effectual than as 
. 
Guatacum. The wood ard resin. 
Guaiacum, or lignum vite, is a native of the West Indies. The 
wood and gum are the parts used in medicine. The wood is hard 
and heavy, of a yellow color, has little smell and a moderately bitter 
taste. Gum guaiacum is of a friable nature, of adeep greenish color, 
and sometimes of a reddish hue, and has a pungent acrid taste. > 
The general virtues of guaiacum are these: hitees cence 1edi- 
cine ; it strengthens the stomach and other viscera, and greatly pro- 
motes the discharge of urine and perspiration. Hence it is of espe- 
cial service in cutaneous eruptions, and disorders arising from ob- 
structions ofthe excretory glands ; in rheumatic, and mercurial pains, 
it has often afforded considerable relief. It was at one time suppo- 
sed to be a radical cure for the syphilis, but alone, it is not to be 
depended on. thongh it forms a valuable adjunct to other remedies 
for that disease, and enters into most of the syrups and preparations 
used in it.. ‘Che gumis likewise agood laxative : when dissolved in 
rum, or combined with water by means of mucilage, or the yolk of 
an egg, or in the form of tincture or elixir, it has been found useful 
in chronic rheumatism, or even in such wandering pains of the sto- 
mach and cther parts of the body as could be attributed to the retro- 
cedent gout. 
The form in which guaiacum wood is adoiinistered is always that of 
adecoction. A quart of it is drunk in the course ofa day. If taken 
warm it produces sweat. 
Gum ARasic. 
This, the purest of the gums, is obtained by spontaneous exudation 
from the mimosa tree. It is in small irregular pieces, white or yel- 
Jowish, semi-pellucid, without taste or smell. It has all the proper- 
ties of sum; is insoluble in alcohol or oils, and soluble in water, 
forming a viscid solution, termed mucilage. 
Gum arabic is used as a demulcent. It is useful in dysentery, 
- diarrhosa, strangury and heat of urine, when it should begivena 
solation. 4t forms an excellent basis for all cough mixtures." In 
pharmacy, mucilage of gum arabic is employed for a variety of pur- 
