PHARMACOPCIAL VEGETABLE DRUGS. 
W. P. C. Barton, Mar. Mep. I, Pp. 171, 1817. (43a) 
Although he describes the medicinal virtues of Gaultheria in detail, 
he does not mention the oil. However, as showing that oil of gaultheria 
was distilled preceding 1818 I will cite, 
BicELow, AMER. MeEp. Botany (69), II, p. 28. Boston, 1818. 
Pyrola umbellata (p. 15) is herein called Wintergreen. 
Gaultheria procumbens (Partridge Berry) :—“The aromatic flavor of the 
Partridge berry, which can not easily be mistaken by those who have once. tasted 
it, may be recognized in a variety of other plants whose botanical habits are 
very dissimilar. 
“It exists very exactly in some of the other species of the same genus par- 
ticularly in Gaultheria hispidula; also in Spirea ulmaria and the root of Spirea 
lobata. It is particularly distinct in the bark of sweet birch, Betula lenta, one 
of our most useful and interesting trees. 
“This taste and odor reside in a volatile oil, which is easily separated by . 
distillation. The essential oil of Gaultheria, which is often kept in our drug- 
gists’ shops, is of a pale or greenish-white color, and perfectly transparent. It 
is one of the heaviest of the volatile oils, and sinks rapidly in water, if a suf- 
ficient quantity be added to overcome the repulsion of the two heterogeneous 
fluids, Its taste is aromatic, sweet, and highly pungent. 
“The oil appears to contain the chief medicinal virtue of the plant, since I 
know of no case in which the leaves, deprived of their aroma, have been em- 
ployed for any purpose. They are nevertheless considerably astringent, etc. 
“The leaves, the essence, and the oil of this plant are kept for use in the 
apothecaries’ shops. 
‘The oil, though somewhat less pungent than those of peppermint and ori- 
ganum, is employed for the same purposes,” etc. 
In this connection, as indicating that the oil was unimportant, 
perhaps simply an article of curiosity to pharmacists, it may be pointed 
out that the American Dispensatory of J. R. Coxe, 1825, mentions oil 
of gaultheria, but does not say anything with regard to its value or use 
in medicine. 
The edition of 1818 does not mention the plant or oil at all, 
In studying the pharmacopeial record of this oil, in connection 
with its materia medica and dispensatory history the fact becomes 
apparent that: oil of gaultheria was made in a primitive way by coun- 
try people (as is still largely the case) about the beginning of this 
century. 
It was introduced into the list of known essential oil-bearing plants 
of America in the first (1820) Pharmacopeia, but was not described. 
Following this, such works as the American Dispensatories and Amer- 
ican Materia Medicas gave the oil a complimentary position, but it 
was of no importance until brought forward by the analysis of Swaim’s 
Panacea. Not until long after 1820 did any European dispensatory 
or pharmacopeia give it position. 
Summary: Oil of Gaultheria was distilled for druggists previous 
to —— but no public description of the apparatus or method was 
printed. 
The Pharmacopeia of the United States, 1820, gave the first 
authoritative method of making it. 
It was prominently introduced to the profession by the New York 
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