GAULTHERIA 145 



That oil of gaultheria was a constituent of Swaim's 

 remedy, and that it was brought into conspicuity 

 therein, may also be seen from the analysis of Swaim's 

 Panacea (by Chilton), recorded in the Am. Jour. Med. 

 Sciences, 1829, p. 542. The following reprint from an 

 anonymous writer in the American Journal of Phar- 

 macy, 1831, establishes the subject more clearly in that 

 it gives a very fair description of oil of gaultheria, 

 as well as making a statement to the effect that it is 

 the same as sweet birch oil, and showing further that 

 many different plants yield the same oil: 



"Oil of Gaultheria procumbens: This is the heaviest 

 oil of which we have any knowledge, for I have found 

 it to be 1.17. This furnishes us with an easy mode of 

 testing its purity. The wonderful success of Swaim's 

 Panacea has brought this oil into great vogue with all 

 venders of Catholicons, Panaceas, and Syrups of 

 Sarsaparilla. 



"It appears to be a vegetable principle secreted in 

 plants very widely separated by their natural affinities. 

 The Betula lenta or Sweet Birch secretes it in its bark; 

 the Polygala paucifolia in its roots; the Spiraea Ulmaria, 

 the Spircea lobata and the Gaultheria hispidula in their 

 roots and stalks." 



But that oil of wintergreen was used somewhat in 

 domestic medicine about that date, and also by Dr. 

 Wooster Beach, the forerunner of Eclectic medicine, 

 is evidenced, for Dr. Beach (49) in his American Prac- 

 tice of Medicine, Vol. Ill (1833), concerning Gaultheria 

 ("Gaulthera") repens, states that "The oil relieves the 

 toothache." 



Antedating this paper, the reviewer has not suc- 

 ceeded in finding any reference whatever to oil of gaul- 



