312 Medkhie. 



medica, or used with unprecedented freedom in the 

 course of the period under review. As a speci- 

 men of these it may be proper to mention Arsenki 

 Coniiim Maadatiim, Atropa Belladona, Solapurn 

 Dukamara, Hyoscyamus, and Datura Stramonium^ 

 which, with several others, have been often and 

 usefully applied by modern physicians. 



The introduction into medical use of the Caro- 

 lina Fink -Root (Spigelia Marijlandica), by Dr.- 

 Garden, of South-Carolina ; oi ihc Scneka Si^ake^ 

 Root (Polygala Scnekajy by Dr. Tennant, of Vir-* 

 ginia; oi Gum Kino, by Dr. FothePvGIll; of O^- 

 prum Ammoniacurn, and of many new Adds, by 

 various persons, may also be ranked among the 

 less important of the class of improvements now 

 under consideration. 



Finally, it would be difficult to mention a single 

 important article in the materia medica which, 

 in the hands of the physicians of the eighteenth 

 century, has not been better understood, better 

 prepared, more extensively applied, or rendered 

 more convenient and efficacious in its combina- 

 tions, than in preceding times. Y/ere it possible 

 to include in this brief review a further detail 

 of particulars, it would be easy to mention many 

 great names, and various branches of science, to 

 which the materia medica has been laid under 

 great obligations in the course of this active and 

 eventful period. 



To the foregoing review it may not be improper 

 to add, that the eighteenth century is distin- 

 guished above all preceding ages, by the number 

 and excellence of Medical Schools, These have 

 multiplied greatly, have been placed on a more 

 extensive and liberal footing, and been more fre- 

 quented than in any former period. At the be- 



