Native Oil of Laurel. 49 



in water, soluble in alcohol, and in etlier. Tliough the specific 

 gravity of the oil exceeds that of ether, yet the compound formed, 

 by combining them, in the proportion of one part of the former to 

 two of the latter, floats upon the surface of pure ether, and may 

 therefore be the lightest of all known liquids *. 



With respect to the medicinal properties of the Native Oil, it 

 bears, when externally applied, the character of a powerful discu- 

 tient : and appears, when exhibited internally, to be diaphoretic, 

 diuretic, and resolvent ; by many it is believed to be analeptic, 

 alterative, anodyne ; and to promote the exfoliation of carious 

 bones. 



AVithout listening to the extravagant reports of the Indians, who 

 exalt it into a Panacea, we must admit that its efficacy has been 

 demonstrated in cases of rheumatism, swellings of the joints, cold 

 tumours, pains in the limbs, and in various disorders supposed to 

 originate in a vitiated state of the blood (mala sangre.) In all 

 these cases it is exhibited in doses of twenty to forty drops, on 

 sugar twice a-day ; accompanied by frequent and long-continued 

 friction of the parts affected with the oil, while the body is kept 

 moderately warm, and a free use of diluting drinks prescribed to 

 the patient. The same practice is said to have been attended with 

 the happiest effect in paralytic disorders ; for this I cannot vouch, 

 but hare found it a valuable remedy in cases of nervous and rheu- 

 matic headache, sprains, and bruises. A decoction of the root 

 has been employed as an alterative, in various chronic, complaints, 

 and with much success. 



I am fully aware of the re-action that often results from over- 

 excited and disappointed expectations, and of the discredit into 

 which a new remedy frequently falls in consequence of the unme- 

 rited encomiums which those who bring it into notice have inju- 

 diciously bestowed upon its virtues. 



Quidquid excessit modum, 

 Pendet instabili loco- 



However slight the credibility we may feel inclined to attach to 



* A mistake probably : not true of a specimen sent to tliis country. Ed. 

 Vol. XVIII. E 



