354 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



XANTHOXYLUM (Prickly Ash) 



Official from 1820 to 1910. In the editions of 1820 and (2nd 

 edition) 1828, it was mentioned in the Primary List, but in 

 following editions it was relegated to the Secondary List until 

 1880, when it became wholly official. Xanthoxylum of the U. 

 S. P., 1910, is the bark of Xanthoxylum americanum (Northern 

 Prickly Ash of commerce), or of Xanthoxylum Clava-Herculis. 



Prickly ash, Xanthoxylum americanum, is a shrub 

 native to North America, being somewhat abundant in 

 localities where it is found, between the Mississippi 

 River and the Western States. Long a domestic rem- 

 edy, it became a favorite in the Eclectic school of medi- 

 cine by reason of its use during the prevalence of the 

 Asiatic cholera in Cincinnati, 1849, when it was em- 

 ployed by them with great satisfaction. It had, how- 

 ever, a domestic as well as a seemingly professional 

 record preceding that date, the same reaching back to 

 the primitive medication of the Indians. Barton's 

 Collection (43), Zollickoffer's (706) Materia Medica, 

 1826, and other authorities on the domestic remedies of 

 North America mention Xanthoxylum conspicuously, 

 the latter writer stating that the berries were used to 

 relieve the toothache, and a decoction of the bark hi 

 the treatment of rheumatic affections, whilst the coun- 

 try people employed an infusion of the berries in colic. 

 It was therefore a popular remedy, possessed of marked 

 carminative qualities that, impressing such men as 

 Barton (43), Thacher (631), King (356, 357), Zollic- 

 koffer (706) and others, brought it into professional 

 recognition. Prickly ask berries are used in large 

 amount in some of the American proprietary remedies. 



