NAT. ORDER. — MAGNOLUCE^E. 57 



regular practice in the United States, and it appears, from the testi- 

 mony which has been published in favor of it, to be well entitled to 

 the attention of the profession. Tlie name originated from the 

 Greek, Icirion, a lily, and dcndron, a tree. It has been transported 

 to Europe, where it is now common, but does not attain the height 

 of more than fifty or sixty feet. 



Medical Properties and Uses. This bark possesses considerable 

 stimulant properties, hut it is chiefly on account of its tonic effects 

 that it deserves notice. It acts also occasionally as a diuretic, and 

 in general it produces conspicuous diaphoretic effects when largely 

 administered. The bark of the root is less stimulant, and more 

 purely tonic, than that of tlie trunk or smaller branches. Given in 

 union witli dogwood, and the Primis veiiicillatus, it has been em- 

 ployed with much success in the cure of intermittents. Dr. Rush 

 employed it, as he states, " with as much satisfaction as any of the 

 common bitters of the shops." 



Dr. J. T. Young, in a letter to Governor Clayton, of Delaware, 

 says : " I have prescribed the poplar bark in a variety of cases of 

 intermittent fever ; and can declare, from experience, that it is 

 equally efficacious with the Peruvian bark, if properly administered." 

 As this is, however, considerably stimulant, it should never be given 

 where tiie intermission is marked by symptoms denoting a phlogistic 

 tendency in tlie system. Bleeding and purging were formerly con- 

 sidered necessary preliminaries to the employment of this remedy, 

 where the habit is inflammatory ; but of late, experience has taught 

 us tliat this practice proves more hurtful than beneficial to the pa- 

 tient. 



It has also been much recommended in chronic rheumatism and 

 in gout; and from its manifest tendency to produce diaphoresis, to- 

 gether witii i(s tonic operation, there can be but little doubt of its 

 occasional u.sefuiness in affections of this T<ind. From these com- 

 bined properties it also acts with great advantage in the advanced 

 stage of dysentery. In this disease I have repeatedly employed it 



