PHARMACOPCEIAL VEGETABLE DRUGS. 
VIBURNUM PRUNIFOLIUM 
Black haw, Viburnum prunifolium. The bark of this tree was 
employed in American domestic medication during the first part of 
the nineteenth century. The first authentic reference we have observed 
is in the American Family Physician, by Professor John King, M. D. 
(356), 1857, where the drug is described and the statement made that 
it acts as a uterine tonic, its uses being practically those now recorded 
in medical literature. In 1860 Dr, I. J. M. Goss (New Preparations, 
1878, p. 61) commended the drug, probably brought to his attention 
through the writings of King, as well, possibly, as from its local em- 
ployment in his part of the South. He introduced it into his own 
practice and commended it to his professional friends. From this date 
black haw grew rapidly in favor, and through repeated publications, 
in medical as well as pharmaceutical literature, came into extensive 
demand, being finally given a position in the Pharmacopeia of the 
United States. 
XANTHOXYLUM 
Prickly ash, Xanthoxylum americanum, is a shrub native to 
North America, being somewhat abundant in localities where it is 
found, between the Mississippi River and the Western States. Long 
a domestic remedy, it became a favorite in the Eclectic school of 
medicine by reason of its use during the prevalence of the Asiatic 
cholera in Cincinnati, 1849, in which it was employed by them with 
great satisfaction. It had, however, as stated, a domestic as well as 
a seemingly professional record preceding that date, the same reaching 
back to the primitive medication of the Indians. Barton’s Collection 
(43), Zollickoffer’s (706) Materia Medica (1826), and other authori- 
ties on the domestic remedies of North America mention it conspicu- 
ously, the latter writer stating that the berries were used to relieve 
the toothache, a decoction of the bark in the treatment of rheumatic 
affections, whilst the country people employed an infusion of the ber- 
ries in colic. It was therefore a popular remedy, possessed of marked 
carminative qualities, that, impressing such men as Barton (43), 
Thacher (631), King 356-357), Zollickoffer ( 706), and others, brought 
it into professional recognition. Prickly ash berries are used in large 
amount in some of the American proprietary remedies. 
ZEA (STIGMA MAYDIS) 
Corn Silk (Zea, or Stigmata maydis) seems to have crept into 
the notice of the medical profession in Europe before it had any con- 
spicuity in America. In 1878 (Revista de Madrid), a Dr. Betherand 
mentioned it in print. Long preceding that date, however, a tea of 
corn silk had been employed in American domestic practice as a remedy 
for acute affections of the bladder. Dr. John Davis, a well-known Cin- 
cinnati physician, repeatedly informed the writer that, in his opinion, a 
decoction of corn silk, together with a decoction of dried pods of beans, 
was the most effective of all diuretics he had employed in his practice, 
g2 
