Dr. Grateloup on the utility of Botany in Medicine. 37 



bitter principle, ia union with a gummy or gum resinous prin- 

 ciple, or with a very active substance, fm' generis, or with 

 neutral or specific salts, or with some alcalis or acids, or again 

 ■with some oil v or volatile principle, shall we not have acquired 

 a more exact and luminous knowledge of its virtues and use- 

 fulness in therapeutic-.' 



Add to this the knowledge you have anteriorly derived from 

 the botanical relations which exist between the plant which has 

 furnished the substance and those which compose the genus or 

 the familv to which it mav belong, and vou will have before vou 

 everv tiring which can enable vou to ascertain its mode of action 

 with precision. Nothing will remain but to describe its more 

 or less active properties, which may be applied more or less 

 usefully in different diseases, which cannot but be the result of 

 a long series of experiments. Then medical experience will be 

 of the greatest utility. 



For a long time medical empiricism has been the sole guide 

 to the discovery of medicines. It was often founded on the 

 instinct of animals or patients, who directed them to such and 

 such a remedy, which proved useful. This empiricism must al- 

 w a\ i be preceded by the application of the senses of seeing, 

 t,i*tnr_r, or smelling, in order 1o appreciate the physical qualities 

 of tlie tast>-, smell, or colour, proper to each substance. This 

 analysis, on (he part of oar tenses, particularly taste and smell, 

 ;ir<- <■••!•!. tiiiK \> ntial, and the fust to be employed. Frede- 



rick Hoffmann, Efebeastreit, and Wedel, have given, on tins 



hailiject, the best preoepta and the most instructive lessons. 



Mr. \ in \ justh observes, that those vegetables only, endowed 

 with odorous and sapid principles, produce medioamentons 



actions; while inodorous and insipid plants ha\e lew virtues, 



ami an- al most, ' •inollient and softening: bot and dry countries 



elop more especially the odoriferous and savoorj prop erti es 



if plants, and hence the aromatic and volatile oils acquire a 



■iitiul perfume in the ardent climates of the Torrid Zone. 



■ \ ■ /.' an i/i> wtedical prop, of Vegetables, Journ, aV 



.1/./,/ 182 



