292 SCURVY-GRASS. . 



ing in very small quantities by distillation with water and recti- 

 fied spirit. In the process of distillation it affords sul- 

 phuretted hydrogen gas. It yields its active matter by macera- 

 tion, both in water and spirit, most perfectly in the latter. As 

 it is extremely volatile, decoctions are improper, extracts are 

 effete, and any preparation of the dried plant is almost inert. 

 The fresh leaves beaten into a conserve, and the depurated 

 and strained juice, may be kept for some time in close vessels, 

 without much diminution of their qualities. The volatile oil 

 and the distilled spirit may also be preserved in well-stopped 

 bottles. 



Medicinal Properties and Uses. — That Scurvy-grass is en- 

 titled to be ranked high in the order of anti-scorbutics, is de- 

 monstrated by the observation of numerous authors*, who 

 state that sailors after a long sea voyage become grievously 

 scorbutic, and that they are soon cured by a plentiful supply of 

 this and other similar plants. In addition to the property 

 alluded to, Scurvy-grass is stimulant, antiseptic, aperitive, in- 

 cisive, diuretic, and emmenagogue. It is given in atonic en- 

 gorgements of the abdominal viscera, in dropsies accompanied 

 by relaxation, in hypochondriasis, paralysis, scrofula, and leu- 

 corrhcea ; and Desbois f states that he had known it to succeed 

 in urinary calculi. It is likewise employed in chronic affections 

 of the stomach and lungs, and for the oedema and cachexia 

 which not infrequently supervene to mucous and intermittent 

 fevers. As an emmenagogue it may be given with confidence 

 to women with flaccid and colourless skin, and in whom the 

 amenorrhea is the result of general or local debility. In the 

 wandering rheumatism, called by Sydenham J " rheumatismus 

 scorbuticus," consisting of wandering pains of long continuance, 

 accompanied with fever, an electuary of scurvy grass, &c, 

 is highly commended by that judicious physician. To the list 

 of diseases in which this herb is exhibited, we may also add, that 



* " We have testimony of its great use in scurvy, not only from physicians, 

 but navigators, as Anson, Linschoten, Maartens, Egede, and others. And 

 it has been justly noticed, that this plant grows most plentifully in those 

 high altitudes, where the scurvy is most obnoxious. Forster found it in 

 great abundance in the islands of the South Sea." — Woodville' 's Medical 

 Botany, vol. i. p. 87- 



f Desbois, ex Flore Medicale, torn. iii. p. 5G. 



f Opera, p. 278. 



