52 ivy. 



Medicinal Properties and Uses. — The leaves, berries, and 

 resin of the Ivy have been employed in medicine. The leaves are 

 rarely administered internally, except, probably, in the atrophy of 

 infants, but their immediate effects are not stated. Externally, 

 they are sometimes applied by the common people of France,* 

 and of our own country,f for drawing and healing 1 running sores, 

 and keeping issues open ; and in Lapland} they are used with the 

 like view. In decoction, either vinous or aqueous, they are more 

 or less detersive ; the former somewhat powerfully so, and applied 

 to indolent and fungous ulcers ; the latter, to scald heads, itch, 

 and other eruptive diseases. The berries were supposed by the 

 ancients to have purgative § and emetic qualities. Later writers 

 have recommended them as alexipharmic and sudorific. Boyle || 

 gave them in large doses to induce perspiration ; and during the 

 London plague, they were said to be used with good success.^! 

 Palmarius** and Kircherusft have likewise recorded their efficacy 

 in plague and other infectious diseases. 



The resin, formerly directed in the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia 

 under the name of gummi hederce, possesses corroborant, astrin- 

 gent, emmenagogue and antispasmodic virtues : Stahl %% gave it 

 in suppression of the menses and other atonic diseases ; but it is 

 now rarely employed, except as an ingredient in some plasters. 



When given internally, the ordinary dose is about a scruple of 

 the leaves and berries, or from two to six ounces of the following 

 infusion : 



INFUSION OF IVY. 



Take of Ivy-leaves or berries. . . .one drachm ; 



Boiling water one pint. 



Macerate, and when cold strain it. 



* Chomel; Usuell. torn. ii. p. 378. 



f Lewis ; Mat. Med. p. 299. 



X Linn. Wiistgbta resa, p. 201. 



§ An extract made from them was called by Quercetanus " Extractum 

 purgans." Duchesne {Quercetanus), Pharmac. doymat. restitut. cap. 26. 



|| Usefulness of Nat. Phil, in Works, i. p. 507. 



% Hodges, who wrote in 1671, gives the following as the recipe which 

 was found so useful: '*■ Powder of Ivy-berries, one drachm ; vinegar of 

 elder, two drachms ; white wine, three drachms." Pestis Nuperee apud 

 Popul. Lond. grass, nar. Hist. p. 181. 



** Palm, in Tract, de Peste et Morbis contag. p. 453. 



ft Kirch, in Scrutinio Pestis, p. 317. 



XX Murray ; App. Med. torn. i. p. 441. 



