POLYOONACEM 149 



I 



Tom its being 



History, Uses, &C. — This plant fs identified by Fee with 



the male iroKvyovov of Dioscorides, a vulnerary iand astringent 



herb, the Polygonos of Pliny (27, 91). It was used by the 



ancients to arrest hemorrhage, the seeds were considered to be 



laxative and diuretic and to arrest defluxions. For burning 



pains in the stomach the leaves were applied topically, and 



were used in the form of a liniment for pains in the bladder 



and for eiysipelas. The juice was administered in fevers, 



tertian and quartan more particularly, in doses of two 



cyathi, just before the paroxysms. Scribonius ( Comp. 46) says 



that it received its name '^polygonos'' 



everywhere, Ibn Sina and other Arabian physicians call 



the plant A'sa'r-ra'i- ^tjc f^ U^a^) and Batbat (Jst^i^j) ; they 



consider it to be cold and dry, and reproduce what the Greeks 



have said concerning its medicinal uses. The Persians call 



it Hazar-bandalc. It is the Folygonum mas of Matthiolus 



[ValgrAi., 300). 



In India the plant is still used by the Hakims in the diseases 

 named by Dioscorides. 



In our own times Polygonum root has been used as a febrifuge 



in Algeria, and has been reported upon as being an excellent 



remedy for chronic diarrhoea and stone in the bladder. Its 

 value has apparently been much exaggerated. {J. B. Jachson^ 



Ame)\ Joiirn. Pharyn.y 1873, 247.) 



In iAx^ Lancet (1885, 658) it is said to be used in Eussia, 

 under the name of Homeriana, as a popular remedy in lung 

 afiections. Dr. Kotschinin, who has experimented with the 

 drug, found it really valuable in several cases of bronchitis, two 

 of which were capillary ; also in three cases of whooping cough. 

 It was tried in phthisis, but no definitely satisfactory results 

 were obtained. A tumblerful of the decoction was given three 

 times a day. 



Description. — Root fibrous, long, very tougli, and some- 

 wliat woody; branclied below, simple at tbe crown. Stems 

 several, spreading in every direction, generally prostrate, much 



