4 On the Cornus florida of the United States, 



wood, while inferior and less stringent than the best cinchona, is 

 yet superior to the inferior kinds. This extract contains all the 

 tonic properties, while the simple resin is merely a stimulant. 

 Professor Barton says *' that it may be asserted with entire safety 

 that as yet there has not been discovered within the limits of the 

 United States any vegetable so effectually to answer the purpose 

 of Peruvian bark, in the management of intermittent fevers as 

 the Cornus florida^ It may be looked upon as our best native 

 tonic. In some respects, however, it diff'ers from quinine, as the 

 powdered bark quickens the pulse, and sometimes produces vio- 

 lent pain in the bowels. On this account the preparations em- 

 ployed are the sulphate of cornine and the extract. Dr. O'Keefe 

 of Augusta, Georgia, has prepared a valuable alcoholic and wa- 

 tery extract of the bark, which seems to possess all its medicinal 

 properties. (See Trans, of Amer. Med. Association, vol. IL, p. 

 671.) This may be used in intermittent and remittent fevers, 

 also in typhus and all febrile disorders. In cases of debility. Dog- 

 wood is a valuable corroborant, for which purpose it may be com- 

 bined with Colombo, Gentian, Chamomile, or Seneca root. 

 Country people often use it as a decoction, or chew the twigs as 

 a prophylactic against fevers. Drunkards sometimes employ a tinc- 

 ture of the berries to restore the tone of the stomach, and combat 

 the pains of dyspepsia. Many have recommended a decoction of 

 equal parts of Dogwood and Wild Cherry barks, as a remedy in 

 dyspepsia, and the debility in convalescence from fever. The flow- 

 ers have similar properties, and a warm infusion of them was 

 often employed by the Indians in cases of chills and indigestion. 

 They named the plant Mon-hci-ean-ni-min-scM. The powdered 

 bark of the plant makes one of the best tooth powders vrith 

 which I am acquainted, as it preserves the gums hard and sound, 

 and at the same time, renders the teeth extremely white. Rub- 

 bing the fresh twigs on the teeth has this eff'cct, and the Creoles 

 of the West Indies, the pearly whiteness of whose teeth is uni- 

 versally acknowledged, use another species in this way. 



There are yet other uses to which Dogwood has been put. A 

 sort of inferior ink may be made with the bark, using it instead 

 of galls. A warm decoction of the bark with sassafras is a valu- 

 able wash for foul ulcers, and in veterinary medicine a decoction 

 of the bark has been used with very good effect in a malignant 

 disease called yellow water, Canada distemper, &c., very fatal 

 among horses. 



