dysentery. This account by Dr. Shepf, of the “ Asclepias a 
as he calls it, inadvertently escaped the attention of the late Pro- 
fessor Barton, else he would, it is presumable, have quoted this 
author, when speaking of the plant in question. Under the names 
“ Butterfly-root, Pleurisy-root,” Shcepf also speaks of the use of 
some plant, in pleurisy and febrile diseases ; and then tells us, on 
the authority of the late Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg, that the name of 
Pleurisy-root was applied to the Asclepias tuberosa, and that a de- 
coction of it was esteemed a certain remedy for pleurisy.* The 
late Profesor Barton informs ust that the root of this plant “is said 
to possess a remarkable power of affecting the skin, inducing gene- 
ral and plentiful perspiration, without greatly increasing the heat of 
the body»—that “it is much employed by practitioners of medicine 
in some parts of the United States, particularly I believe, in Virginia, 
as a remedy in certain forms of fever, in pleurisy, and other affec- 
tions. The root is used both in powder and in decoction. Some- 
ination with antimonials,” He further says 
times it is used in combina 
\ ee gee 
__* Butterfly-root ; Pleurisy-root. Hoc nomine in Terra Mariana Radix quedam 
insignitur, alba, crassitie digiti auricularis, cujus virtutes incolz in Pleuritide, aliisque 
morbis febrilibus, magni faciunt. Plantam non vidi; nomen vero, illam ad_ Diadel.. 
nae persnere, suadet. —  Sapor est mucilagineo-dulcescens, amaricans. 
: nia nomine Pleurisy-root. Radix Asclepiadis tuberose venit, cujus 
oollicem magnitudine aequans, decocta pro remedio certissimo ad- 
gis Pleuvtidem habetur, ut “ins e literis a Muhlenbergii didici, 
Mat. Med. p. 160. 
ees f 
q Collections. 
