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C I N 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



C I N 



the banks of small rivers or torrents, and the most proper 

 season for cutting the bark is from September to November, 

 which is the only period of some intermission from rain. 

 Having made a road from the nearest plantation in the low 

 lands to the spot where the trees abound, they build huts 

 for the workmen, and a large hut for the bark : each Indian 

 is provided with a large knife, and a bag that will hold about 

 fifty pounds of green bark ; he cuts down the bark as 

 high as he can reach from the ground, and then fastens a 

 stick about half a yard long with tough withs to the tree, 

 like the step of a ladder, and having sliced off the bark as 

 high as he can reach with this, he fixes a new step, and thus 

 ascends to the top, while another Indian below gathers up 

 what he cuts down : this process they perform by turns, 

 going from tree to tree, till the bag is filled. Care is taken 

 not to cut the bark wet; and if it should happen to be moist, 

 they immediately carry it to the low country to dry, for 

 otherwise it loses its colour, turns black, and rots; which will 

 also happen if it remain long in the hut without being spread, 

 so that the Indians remove it as soon as the weather permits, 

 and while they are cutting, the mules arc employed in carrying 

 the bark to the drying place, where it is spread in the open 

 air, and frequently turned. As the trees are said to perish 

 eoon after they have been stripped of their bark, a scarcity 

 of them has been apprehended ; but Condamine asserts, that 

 the young trees do not die by losing their bark, but send out 

 fresh roots from the base : and, as the trees which stand to 

 any considerable age probably increase by seed, the fear that 

 this valuable bark may be exhausted seems to be groundless. 

 The bark of this tree is brought to us in pieces of different 

 sizes, some of which are rolled up in thick short quills, and 

 others are flat : the outside is brownish, and has sometimes 

 a whitish moss on it ; the inside is of a yellowish, reddish, 

 or rusty iron colour. Those who affect to be nice in the 

 choice of their drugs, prefer such pieces as are rolled up 

 about the size of a common quill. To the taste it is astringent 

 and bitter, and has an advantage over other bitters, in being 

 aromatic. To enumerate all its virtues, would require the 

 extent of a volume. Morton, the contemporary of Sydenham, 

 was one of the first who made considerable use of the bark. 

 From us it was carried into France, where the dauphin was 

 cured by it. Iloerhaave restrains the use of the bark with 

 almost innumerable cautions ; while Hoffman and others are 

 boundless in its praise. All the prejudices with which it 

 had at first to contend, are now done away, and its character 

 has long been universally established : it gives out its virtues 

 both to cold and boiling water; but the decoction is thicker, 

 and more powerfully tinctured with its taste : the bark, how- 

 ever, is generally given in substance, and may be taken in 

 very considerable doses with the most perfect security : some- 

 times it is found necessary to join it with opiates, to pre- 

 vent its passing off too suddenly as a purgative. A most 

 excellent tincture of the bark, under the name of Iliixham's 

 Tincture, is sold in the shops, in which preparation the bark 

 is rendered still more efficacious by the addition of orange- 

 peel and snake-root. The best sort is bitter, resinous, breaks 

 short and smooth, and is easily reduced to powder. The 

 great number of complaints in which this medicine may be 

 advantageously employed, seem to entitle it to the character 

 of an universal one. In many disorders it is a sovereign 

 specific ; and every practitioner finds by daily experience, 

 that its use may still be carried to a greater extent of cases. 

 Its first and principal operation appears to be the strengthen- 

 ing of the solids ; and however variously its salutary effects 

 may appear, they are undoubtedly the consequences of this 

 general property or power. In all disorders where the bark 



is found serviceable, other medicines of an astringent or bitter 

 nature may be used, and will be found serviceable, thougli 

 not so effectual as that, when it is given in substance, which 

 it always should be where the stomach will bear it, as none 

 of its preparations contain all its parts, and none of its part- 

 separately answers so well as the whole. Many are intimi- 

 dated from the use of this medicine, though convinced of its 

 salutary effects, through fear of its astringency ; but there is 

 very little cause to be apprehensive on that account ; it is 

 a prejudice for which there is in reality very little foun- 

 dation, for the truth is, the bark is not of a very astringent 

 nature : it may be given in almost all disorders, when once 

 there is a fair remission of the fever, and the pain which 

 attends it ; and in general while the pulse of a grown person 

 does not exceed seventy strokes in a minute, it is safe and 

 useful. So far from causing obstructions in any part of the 

 body, it in many instances removes such as are already 

 formed, as is frequently experienced in glandular swellings, 

 and scrofulous cases : it has been given to women two days 

 after delivery with success, to the amount of a drachm every 

 three hours, without lessening the lochia ; and during the 

 natural flux of the menses, without in the least interrupting 

 them ; and even in the confluent small-pox, the use of it does 

 not lessen the spitting : whence it appears, that the astrin- 

 gency of this medicine is too slight to obstruct either any 

 natural or critical discharge ; and, therefore, whenever its 

 use is indicated on other accounts, it may be freely adminis- 

 tered, without running any risk of doing mischief by its 

 astringency. If ever any injury were sustained by its use in 

 a case to which it is adapted, a too late, and not too early ad- 

 ministration is generally to be blamed. It was first celebrated 

 for its efficacy in fevers, and in this respect it still maintains 

 its reputation : it is indeed the principal thing to be depended 

 on in all kinds of fevers ; and if given in the ardent, when 

 they are once brought to intermit, it generally effects a cure. 

 In the low kinds of fevers its effects are equally salutary, 

 but its use should be begun much earlier ; in agues, and all 

 other intermitting complaints, it is almost a certain remedy. 

 It is not, however, only in fevers of every kind that the bark 

 is so potent a remedy, but also in numerous other cases, and 

 particularly in mortifications. It has also of late been much 

 used in cases of acute rheumatism, especially after the vio- 

 lence of the disease has been in some degree moderated liy 

 the antiphlogistic treatment, or when an evident remission 

 has taken place. In the fluor albus, profluvia, and haemor- 

 rhages of every kind, the decoction of the bark is of excel- 

 lent use : and the tincture taken in water of various parts. 

 as chalybeate, 8cc. is extremely useful in restoring lost appe- 

 tite. If any medicine, in short, deserved the title of a panacea. 

 the bark would prefer the fairest claim. Foul ulcers, by a 

 free use of the bark, are soon reduced to a healing state : it 

 resolves glandular tumors, and promotes a laudable suppura- 

 tion in those of an inflammatory nature. I5ut it should be 

 noticed, that as the judicious use of this medicine is so exten- 

 sively beneficial, so an improper one may be productive of 

 as ill consequences ; for though it is an excellent febrifuge, 

 its use in ardent fevers is only in the time of their intermit- 

 ting, for when the fibres are tense its use is not ne< css.iry ; 

 its primary effect being to increase their firmness, inu-t, in 

 this case, render it highly improper to be administered. 

 Cases sometimes occur in which its free use would be 

 hurtful, such as where symptoms of congestion or topical 

 inHainmation of the head appear, which are knoivn by rod- 

 ness of the eyes, phrenetic delirium, &c. It lias also \>ccn 

 sometimes accused of producing a dilliculty of respiration. 

 Though it is one of the most potent antiseptics, or registers 



