20 Dr. Hamilton on the 
the bellies of several small fish with a preparation of the 
root, and threw the fish thus doctored overboard, when they 
were devoured with avidity by the larger fish: these latter 
being stupified by the dose, became, in their turn, the prey 
of the icthyophagists in the boats. 
Struck with the singular and decided effect of the dogwood 
bark upon the fish, 1 was induced to investigate its proper- 
ties as an internal remedy upon the human frame, and com- 
menced, accordingly, a series of experiments upon myself 
with the bark, in substance, in infusion, in decoction, and in 
tincture; which last I found to be the only efficient and prac- 
ticable mode of exhibition, since the active constituent appears 
to be a resin insoluble in any thing but rectified spirit: hence 
the necessity of the stillhouse lees, which contain alcohol in 
a highly concentrated state, in combination with a powerful 
and deleterious empyreumatic oil, in the preparation of the 
bark for fish poisoning. 
My tincture was prepared by macerating one ounce of the 
coarsely powdered bark in twelve ounces, by measure, of 
rectified spirit, which I had brought with me from England, 
for twenty-four hours, and straining. The tincture thus ob- 
tained was of a fine honey yellow, and appeared to be fully 
impregnated with the active principle of the bark: it had 
nothing striking or offensive in its taste or smell, but, on 
being dropped into water, it communicated to it an opaline 
or milky hue, evidently from the separation of a resin; for, 
on suffering some of the undiluted tincture to evaporate in a 
glass, the sides were encrusted with a white film of the resin 
which remained behind. Labouring at the time under a 
severe toothach, which seemed to set sleep at defiance, I 
took at bedtime a drachm measure of this tincture in a 
tumbler of cold water, and lay down, with the uncorked 
phial in the one hand and the empty glass in the other, to 
speculate upon the manner of its operation on the system. The 
dose was by no means disagreeable to take, nor was its action 
on the mouth and throat unpleasant, like that of the bark in sub- 
stance, which irritated the fauces like the Daphne mezereum 
or the croton oil; but, soon after swallowing the dose, I be- 
came sensible of a burning sensation in the epigastric region, 
spreading rapidly to the surface, and terminating in a copious 
diaphoresis, in the midst of which I was surprised by a sleep 
so profound that I was utterly unconscious of existence from 
about eight o'clock at night till eight the following morning, 
when I awoke free from pain of every description, and found 
myself still grasping the uncorked phial in one hand, from 
which not a drop had been spilled, and the empty glass in 
3 
