132 FLORA HOMCEOPATHICA. 



until 1798, when Dufrenoy, a physician at Valenciennes, had 

 brought under his notice a young man who had been cured 



of 



an 



■) 



standing, by being accidentally poisoned by this plant. He 

 reports seven cases of obstinate herpetic eruptions cured by 

 this plant. He also gave it in palsy, and cured some of them. 

 Dr. Alderson, of Hull, in his essay on Rhus toxicodendron, 

 gives several cases of recovery from paralysis from the use of 

 the dried leaves, in doses from half a grain to a grain three 

 times a day, and he says that the first feeling of amendment 

 was a sensation of tinsrlinff and twitching in the affected limb. 



£,*"'£> MUM «, rr xvw***.^ 



Dr. Givesius {Bulletin des Sciences 31edicales 9 1825) reports 

 cures of paralysis by this drug. 



It has also been employed in rheumatism, obstinate eruptive 

 diseases, in some cases of amaurosis, and in other nervous 

 affections of the eyes ; but it is now almost entirely aban- 

 doned in allopathic medicine. 



Description. — Rhus toxicodendron flowers in June and 

 July. The root sends up many stems, which divide into 

 slender woody branches, and are covered with a brown bark. 

 These stems seldom grow erect, but trail along the ground, and 

 when they meet with support will ascend a wall, or climb like 



curative purposes, except from wild and almost full-grown plants, and from those 

 which possess some of the peculiarities in a high degree, not only to prevent the 

 possibility of confounding them, but to determine the extreme points of difference 

 in their medical properties. For example, it would be desirable to select a toxico- 

 dendron at least twelve or fifteen years of age and under three feet in height, having a 

 trunk perfectly straight, erect, and free from rootlets, and bark generally smooth 

 and spotted, with leaves pubescent beneath. The writer deems it proper to ac- 

 knowledge that his description of the toxicodendron has been taken chiefly from 

 books, and confined mainly to those points on which there is a general agreement 

 among the numerous authorities consulted. The radicans leaves, which he col- 

 lect i for trial, were from a female plant growing spontaneously in a fertile and 

 somewhat humid soil, and in a situation exposed to the sun. It had a trunk 

 about twenty feet in height, and two inches in diameter ; numerous radicles, and 



leaves serrate and smooth on both surfaces. It was in flower at the time, June, 

 1846." 



