PREFACE. 
TuE greater part of the contents of the following pages 
has been already laid before the profession, and the object 
the author has in view at present, is to give a connected 
account of the new medical properties, which he conceives 
to reside in many of the plants belonging to the natural 
order Ranunculacee, and more particularly as they are 
found in Sabadilla seeds, in the seeds of the Delphinium 
Staphisagria, and in the root of several species of the genus 
Aconitum. The properties alluded to, are those possessed 
by preparations of the plants above mentioned, when ad- 
ministered internally, of exciting sensations of heat and 
tingling on the surface of the body, and of producing similar 
effects locally when rubbed upon the skin, without, in most 
instances, giving rise to irritation of the vascular system; 
_and when exhibited in either way in certain painful diseases, 
as Neuralgia, Rheumatism, and Gout, of alleviating or 
removing the pain, apparently by exerting a peculiar effect 
upon the nervous system, unattended by any narcotic 
influence. | 
These effects are more certain and exist in a higher 
degree of energy in the active principles obtained from the 
plants, and on this account the author has bestowed more 
attention on them, and, in most cases, would give them 
the preference as medicinal agents. He has also dwelt 
more fully upon the effects produced by them when ap- 
plied to the surface, than when exhibited internally, because 
experience has shown, that by the former method, a quan- 
