674 PRACTICE OF PHYSIC. 



I have tried the chamomile flowers, gentian, and other bitters, 

 and I have no doubt of their efficacy when exhibited in suffi- 

 cient quantity, which must be as large at least as the quantity 

 we commonly employ of the bark, agreeably to the method of 

 Hoffmann, giving, several times during the intermission, from 

 half a drachm to a drachm of the flowers in powder. But I 

 find an inconvenience attending the use of these bitters, that, 

 given in sufficient quantity, they, more certainly than the bark, 

 prove purgative, which disappoints us of their effects. It is ne- 

 cessary, therefore, that with such bitters we should combine 

 some astringent substance. Various kinds have been tried, and 

 have upon occasion been found successful ; and were we to en- 

 ter into any theory with respect to the bark, we would be led 

 very strongly to consider it as a combination of a bitter and an 

 astringent. The German physicians seem at present to be well 

 agreed in this, and do practice with such a combination of a bit- 

 ter and an astringent. I have repeated the experiment ; I have 

 joined gentian and galls, one of the simplest bitters to one of 

 the simplest astringents ; but I have not made experiments 

 enough in order to ascertain the best proportion of these two ; 

 but in the practice in our infirmary, I found that I could pro- 

 cure the effect of stopping the course of an intermittent by this 

 combination. Now, are there any other combinations, or, what 

 is more desirable, whether is there such a combination already 

 formed by nature in any one substance ? I am very ready to 

 believe that there is some, as the hippocastanum, the ash bark, 

 and particularly the willow bark, with regard to which, in the 

 philosophical transactions, there is a pretty good voucher of its 

 efficacy in the case of intermittents. The testimonies of Stone, 

 Clossius, and Gunzius, also are very strongly in its favour; 

 and although we have not had many opportunities of employing 

 it in intermittent fevers, the few that have been made show that 

 it may be in some cases an effectual remedy."" 



I have employed the oak bark in powder, giving it to the 

 quantity of half a drachm every two or three hours during' the 

 intermissions of the fever ; and both by itself, and joined with 

 Chamomile flowers, have prevented the return of the paroxysms 

 of intermittents. M. M. 



The febrifuge virtues of gentian have, by some writers, been 

 made equal to those of the Peruvian bark ; but in many cases 



