N'AT. ORDEn. ERICE^. 'O 



on the Materia IMeilica. Alibert says : " All that can be said of this 

 remedy, is, that its action is, under certain circumstances, manifestly 

 diuretic ;" and he declares that its supposed specific power in 

 nephritic and other diseases of the urinary organs, has not the least 

 foundation. From the experiments, also, of Dr. Alexander, tlie 

 leaves of Uva ursi seem to possess very little diuretic power, and 

 those made by Murray show that they have no material effect upon 

 the urinary calculi ; the efficacy they may therefore have in relieving 

 the calculous diseases, we are disposed to ascribe to their astringency ; 

 and, in confirmation of this opinion, we may cite the observation of 

 Dr. CuUcii, who, in his chapter on astringents, notices the disserta- 

 tion of De Heucher, under the title of Calculus per adstiingcntia 

 pcllcndus : and though he does not think with this author that as- 

 tringents are lithontriptics ; yet from his own experience, and that 

 of others, he believes they often have a powerful effect in relieving 

 calculous symptoms; and in proof of this he refers to the exhibition 

 of the Uva ursi. 



The weight of testimony is, however, greatly in favor of its 

 remediate powers in disorders of this kind. The account given by 

 De Haen of its efficacy in diseases of the urinary organs, is, indeed, 

 exceedingly flattering ; and although few other practitioners may 

 have been equally successful with it, there is, notwithstanding, suf- 

 ficient evidence extant to warrant us in regarding it as a very impor- 

 tant remedy in such diseases. De Haen relates some very remark- 

 able instances of the successful use of the leaves of this plant in 

 calculous and nephritic affections. He says he employed it witii 

 success in cases of ulceration of the perineum from calculus in the 

 bladder, and in purulent discharges from the urinary passages. Ho 

 insists, however, that this remedy is wholly ineffectual in cases 

 where there is much derangement of the internal urinary organs, 

 whether from calculi, puss, or too frequent and long retention of 

 urine. He also states, that in several of urinary calculus, this 

 remedy afforded complete relief, " although the catheter showed that 



