BERBERIS VULGARIS. 91 
benefit in all fluxes ; and later, according to Paulli, Bauhin, etc., 
in inflammations of the throat and other affections of the mu- 
cous membranes. According to Ray (Hist. Plant., vol. ii. p. 
1605), in diseases of the liver, jaundice, etc. According to Koch 
(Buchner’s Rep., vol. viii. fas. 1), in choleraic diarrhoea, when 
the secretion of the bile continues to be irregular and wanting, 
the Berberis has been given with great success. There are so 
many different opinions relating to the effects of the Berberis, 
as to make its classification difficult. If medical men had better 
distinguished between its positive and its medical effects, there 
would have been fewer contradictions. Its effects are noted as 
_tonic and refrigerant, quenching the thirst, weakening, attenu- 
ating ; dispelling fever and inflammation ; desiccant and dissolv- 
ing; purgative and antiseptic; astringent and styptic ; anodyne, 
sudorific, and diuretical; expelling worms and causing abor- 
tion. 
It was a popular remedy for feverish diseases and inflamma- 
tions; but it gradually passed from the hands of the people 
into those of the physicians, who, for a time, extensively used. 
it in these affections, but always, it is to be remarked, with 
that disunion and dissension which runs through the Materia 
Medica, and which arises either from faulty and incomplete 
observation, erroneous explanation of the facts, ignorance, or 
thoughtless echoing the opinions of others. While the Berberis 
was formerly employed for asthenic fevers, and recommended 
as a restorative remedy, it has also a so-called antiphlogistic 
effect. It is rejected by modern physicians in the first point, and 
recommended only in the others. Schene (Pract. Arzneim., 
vol. i. p. 83) considers it useful only in sthenic fevers, and 
forbids it in the asthenic form. Korn (Arzneimittel., 2nd edit., 
P- 190) advises it only in hypersthenic fevers, etc. Herberger 
and Koch recommended the Berberis in inflammation of the 
bowels, diseases of the liver, cholera, and dysentery, in total 
°pposition to Hesse, who considers that this medicine creates 
Congestion of blood in the head, chest, and abdomen, bleeding 
