28 



highlands between this place and Schoharie. The Indians 

 are said to cure the bite of the Rattlesnake with this root, 

 and they were perhaps first induced to use it, by the striking 

 resemblance which it bears to the rattles of this dreadful 

 animal. There is a great demand for it in medicine, and its 

 discovery in our neighbourhood will be important. 



The Delphinium Consolida, or common Larkspur, has been 

 found to possess many useful qualities, and it may be used 

 in some instances for the Digitalis Purpuria, or Foxglove,* 

 a medicine in some cases indispensable ; and the effects of 

 which notwithstanding, on the vision, are equally distressing 

 and wonderful. The imagination of the patient, also, both 

 in his sleeping and wakeful hours, is powerfully affected 

 by it. 



The headlong precipice that thwarts the flight, 

 The trackless desert, the cold starless night, 

 And stern-eyed JWurder with his knife behind, 

 In dread succession agonize the mind. 



To relieve us from these consequences of the Digitalis, we 

 have a hope in the Delphinium. A tincture made of the 

 bruised seeds has been the mode of its preparation. f 



The Columbo root was discovered in the western part of 

 this state last summer, by Mr. Whitlow. Willdenow sup- 

 poses it to belong to a species of the Bryonia. This how- 

 ever is doubtful. A technical name, it is known,, will short- 

 ly be given to the plant. Its present appellation is from Co- 

 lumbo, a town in Ceylon from whence all India is supplied. 

 It grows also in Africa,! and forms an important article of 

 commerce with the Portuguese at Mozambique. Its use 

 and importance in medicine is fully established, and it has 

 hitherto been the subject of regret, that the irregularity at- 

 tending its importation, has obliged practitioners often to 

 exhibit it in a decayed state, owing to long keeping. 



* See Medical Repos. Hex. Ill, vol. 2. p. 232, for a particular ac- 

 count of this important plant. 



t See Dr. A. Blanchard's communication to the New-England Med. 

 and Surg. Journal, vol. 2, p. 248. 



} Duncan's Dispensatory, p. 203. 



