PHARMACOPCIAL VEGETABLE DRUGS. 
in his Formulary, p. 67, says: ‘The above preparation has been as- 
serted, by the New York Medical Society, to be nearly identical with 
the noted Panacea of Swaim.” 
That oil of gaultheria was a constituent of Swaim’s remedy and 
that it was brought into conspicuity therein, may also be seen from 
an analysis of Swaim’s Panacea (by Chilton) recorded in the Am. J. 
Med. Sciences, 1829, p. 542. The following reprint from an anony- 
mous writer in the American Journal of Pharmacy, 1831, establishes 
the subject more clearly in that it gives a very fair description of oil 
of gaultheria as well as making a statement to the effect that it is 
the same as sweet birch oil, and showing further that many different 
plants yield the same oil. 
Oil of Gaultheria procumbens:—“This is the heaviest essential oil of which 
we have any knowledge, for I have found it to be 1.17. This furnishes us with 
an easy mode of testing its purity. The wonderful success of Swaim’s Panacea 
has brought this oil into great vogue with all venders of Catholicons, Panaceas, 
and Syrups of Sarsaparilla. 
It appears to be a vegetable principle secreted in plants very widely sepa- 
rated by their natural affinities. The Betula lenta or Sweet Birch secretes it 
in its bark; the Polygala paucifolia in its roots; the Spirea ulmaria* the Spirea 
lobata and the Gaultheria hispidula in their roots and stalks. 
But that oil of wintergreen was used somewhat in domestic medi- 
cine about that date, and also by Dr. Wooster Beach, the forerunner 
of Eclectic medicine, is evidenced, for Dr. Beach in his American 
Practice of Medicine, Vol. III (1833, p. 201), concerning Gaultheria 
“Gaulthera’ repens, states that “The oil relieves the tooth ache.” 
Antedating this paper, I have not succeeded in finding any refer- 
ence whatever to oil of gaultheria being used in medicine, although 
the plants that contain it were generally recognized in pharmacy, the 
oil being distilled by primitive methods and known to druggists. Thus, 
as showing that even if used at all it could not have been important 
I need only to refer to a few of the many authorities who would not 
have overlooked it. 
AMa@NITATES ACADEMIC III, Pp. 14, 1787. 
“Gaultheria, Kalm. (385) (Gen. 487)—Usus foliorum in infuso, 
loca Theae. Dixit plantam Cl. Kalmius a. D. D. Gaulthier, Medico 
Canadensi, Botanico eximio.” No reference to the oil. 
Benjy. SmitH Barton. Coriections (43), Erc. PH.ap., 1798, P. 19. 
“The Gaultheria procumbens, which we call Mountain Tea, is 
spread very extensively over the more barren, mountainous part of the 
United States,” etc. Does not mention the oil. 
PHARMACOPEIA OF THE Mass. Mepicat, Society (503). Boston, 
1808 
No mention of the oil or plant. 
* Pagenstecher described oil of Spirea uJmaria in the Repertorium f. d. Pharmacie, 1834, 
Pp. 337, and is credited by Procter with its discovery. But we have in this paper a reference 
that antedates him three years. Still, this anonymous writer is preceded thirteen years by 
Dr. Jacob Bigelow, as shown in our history. 
39 
