40 ORD. IIL. Composite. LEONTODON TABATA, 
Dandelion is generally considered by medical writers as the most 
active and efficacious. of the lactescent plants; the expressed juice is* 
bitter and somewhat acrid, the root however is still bitterer‘, and 
possesses more medicinal power than any other part; of the plant. 
Taraxacum has been long i in repute as a mild detergent and aperient, 
and its diuretic effects may be inferred from the vulgar name it 
bears in most of the European languages, quasi lectinings et urina- 
ria herba dicitur’.. Murray says, Viscidos nimirum tenacesque hu- 
mores stirps solvit, et obstructa vasa reserat, eruptionem variam 
sanat*: and Bergius recommends its use in obstructions of the liver, 
hypochondriasis, and jaundice. Its successful use in the first of 
these diseases is confirmed by his own experience’. De Haen also 
gives us another instance of the same complaint cured by the same 
means; and we have various proofs of the good effects of the 
Taraxacum related by different authors, in jaundice*, dropsy *, pul- 
monic tubercles', and some cutaneous disorders". 
. Haller’s Stirp. Hel. n. 58. 
plus lotii derivat in vesicam quam pueruli retinendo sunt, presertim 
inter oy ae edgue tunc impradentes et inviti stragula permingunt. Ray’s 
Hist. Pl. p. 2 © Murray, }. c. 
* In hepatis morbis, prestantissima est radix hee recens, sero lactis, jusculis 
et apozematibus incocta. Praclara identidem inde vidi, ubi alia fefellerunt. Sepe 
mihi successit resolvere duritiem hepatis cum jusculo parato e radice recenti. Ta- 
raxaci et fol. rec. acetosa, in sero lactis coctis, vel in aqua, addito vitello ovi, quod 
jusculum quotidie per plures septimanas, immo memses, sumpserunt egroti, pro- 
pinato simul cremore tartari. Hoc regimen exoptata prestitit etiam in calcule 
felleo et in ascitide. Mat, Med. tom 2. p. 649, 
® Van Swieten’s Com. tom 3. p. 102. and Boerhaave apud Boretium. 
= Bergius loc. cit. Bonafas in Hautesierckii Recucil d’Observ. tom. 2. p- 360. 
Frank. Samml. t. 1. p. 226. 
J + Zimmerman, vide Murray, 1. ¢. Haller, 1. e. Park. 780; 
k Leidenfrost Dissert. de Succis. Herb. rec. p- 27. Frank. Samm. L. c. p. 126, 
Delius’s Diss. de Tarax. aq. taraxaci per fermentationem parata; et in allis morbis 
utitur. Febure Chemie. 2. p. 408. 
