110 On the Medical Virtues of the 



XXX. On the medical virtues of the Orobanche Virgi- 

 niana, or Cancer-Root, in Cancerous and other Ul- 

 cers. In a letter to the Editor, from Dr. George 

 Bensell, of Germantown, Pennsylvania. 



IN the year 1788, a friend of mine, who had 

 found the benefit of this root (in Kentucky), in the 

 cure of an old and painful ulcer of the leg, gave me a 

 small quantity of the powder. I applied it to a con- 

 firmed cancer, situated in the face, which it com- 

 pletely cured. 



Having discovered, in my neighbourhood, the same 

 plant, which attaches to itself the remarkable pecu- 

 liarity of growing under no tree of the forest but the 

 Water-Beech, I have, upon various occasions, used 

 the powdered root of it in foul and cancerous ulcers, 

 frequently with success, and generally to the great 

 relief of the patient. 



It is difficult to say, in what manner this vegetable 

 acts, unless, indeed, by certain qualities it possesses 

 of neutralizing the cancerous virus ; for in no instance 

 have I found it to excite the smallest degree of pain. 



The powder should be mixed with a solution of 

 gum-arabic, thickened to the consistence of ointment, 

 and laid on thin leather, which may be left upon the 

 ulcer as long as any adhesive quality remains. This, 



