70 Dr. Hancock on SarsapariUa, 



kind of narcotic quality, affecting- the tongue and fauces with 

 more or less of a nauseous acrimony, — the degree or intensity 

 of which, affords the best indication of the strength and value 

 of the drug. Its effects on one patient, an African, were cer- 

 tainly those of a narcotic, agreeably to the best definition of this 

 term. It was given him in a large dose, the infusion from 4oz. 

 of Rio Negro Sarsa. It caused nausea and great prostration of 

 strength, a degree of torpor which induced him to lie upon the 

 ground with unwillingness to move or to get up. He said that it 

 made him " sick as death, and broke all his bones." There was 

 scarcely any alteration in the pulse, unless it were a little retarded. 



Whatever restorative and aphrodisiac virtues may have been 

 by the ancients attributed to the Ophrys Satyrion, or the dif- 

 ferent Orchideae, it appears to me, that the Sarsa is the only 

 medicinal agent justly entitled to the character of a direct resto- 

 rative. This property, at the same time, seems to be totally 

 unconnected with, or independent of, its farina or amylaceous 

 principle, since it is found to produce the same restorative 

 effects, not only when prepared by an aqueous menstruum, but 

 also in a saturated alcoholic tincture, which we know could not 

 take up those amylaceous or simply nutritive particles. 



This is one of the most remarkable effects of the genuine 

 Sarsa, and tends clearly to exemplify its eminently salutary 

 properties, namely, the augmentation of flesh, and melioration 

 of the habit, so frequently observable in patients who have 

 taken it for some time. It was noticed by many of the planters 

 of Demerara, as well as by eminent medical practitioners, that 

 not only did sores heal up, and swellings of the joints subside, 

 on the use of the Sarsa,* but that the patients acquired a 



* It was proved by numerous examples, that the Sarsa was the only efficient 

 article in the preparation, and equally successful by itself, whilst the other woods, 

 &c. usually joined with it, were productive of little or no perceptible effects on 

 the patient or the disease. The Bark of Guaiacum, however, was an exception ; 

 but not being an article pertaining to commerce or found in the shops, it was 

 seldom obtainable. Certain native plants were also found exceedingly useful in 

 healing ulcers, and as general alteratives ; but these are scarcely relevant here and 

 are intended to form the subject of a separate paper. 



