58 NAT. ORDER. ARACEyE. 



with tender treaiment in the green-house, and a rapid increase by 

 offsets from its roots. 



Medical Properties and Uses. " The acrid property which re- 

 sides in this, as well as all other species of arum," says Dr. Bigelow, 

 " appears to depend upon a distinct vegetable principle, at present 

 but little understood. It is extremely volatile, and disappears al- 

 most entirely by heat, drying, or simple exposure to the air." This 

 principle appears to possess no affinity for water, alcohol, or oil, 

 being volatile, and in a state of gas, inflammable. Sir John Hill, 

 in his English herbal, speaks very highly of this plant as being 

 useful in palsies ; " a piece of the fresh gathered root, bruised and 

 taken in milk, will sometimes restore the speech at once ; and a 

 continued use will perfect a cure." It is also good in scorbutic 

 cases, and in all inward obstructions. It is by no means incapable, 

 as is stated by some writers, of affecting the general circulation. 

 On the contrary, we have had many satisfactory ev-idences. In 

 the chronic, asthmatic affection of old people, it is a remedy of 

 great value. Dr. Cullen says he "has administered the root, and 

 witnessed its good effects in chronic catarrhs, and in phthisis pul- 

 monalis." In these complaints it has now become one of the most 

 common remedies in domestic practice. It has also been prescribed 

 with advantage in rheumatism, and in apthous sore mouth. In this 

 latter affection. Dr. Thacher says it is a remedy of extraordinary 

 and approved efficacy. It has also been recommended in the 

 form of an ointment made of the fresh root, in tinea capitis and 

 tetter. Dr. Burson states that the berry of the arum is more re- 

 tentive of its peculiar acrimony than any other part of the plant. 

 The root, which is the part used for medicinal purposes, is di- 

 rected by physicians best acquainted with its properties, to be given 

 in the form of a decoction, in milk ; Dr. Bigelow, however, re- 

 marks that the arum triplujllum imparts none of its acrimony to 

 milk on boiling ; and that the best mode of administering it, would 

 be in the form of an emulsion with gum arable and sugar. 



