STONECROP. 327 



intermittents, one pint of a strong decoction •, drunk an 

 hour before the accession of the paroxysm, was found by 

 Linnaeus f very efficacious, especially when vomiting was 

 produced. Lange J also speaks of half a spoonful of the 

 expressed juice mixed with; wine, as being a popular remedy 

 for intermittents among the peasantry of his country. With 

 respect to its utility in epilepsy and chorea, several facts have 

 been published in Germany and France to prove that it is some- 

 times beneficial ; among others M. Peters has related five cases 

 of epilepsy and chorea, in which, by giving from eight to ten 

 grains per diem, for some time, one was cured, and the paro- 

 xysms rendered less severe in the others §. In dismissing the 

 internal employment of this herb, it is necessary to observe, 

 that it should be cautiously administered on account of its acrid 

 and excitant qualities. 



As an external remedial agent, the Stonecrop has been re- 

 nowned from the earliest days of medicine. Galen is said to 

 have used it, as a topical application, in fistula lachrymalis, 

 and Dioscorides for indurated scrofulous swellings. Marquet|| 

 asserts, that he had found the juice or pulp very efficacious in 

 the treatment of ulcers, both cancerous and syphilitic; but 

 notwithstanding this affirmation, we are inclined to believe that 

 if any good effects have resulted from its application, the chief 

 benefit was merely a correction of the fcetor attending these 

 ulcerations, and the same we imagine to be the extent of its 

 action in cases of gangrene. The bruised plant, however, ap- 

 plied to the skin, excites vesication and redness, and if con- 

 tinued for a certain length of time will produce ulceration, so 

 as to answer very well for the formation of issues ^f . 



* Formed by boiling a handful of the herb in two pints of water until 

 reduced one half. 



f Westgota Risa, p. 180. 



J Med. Remed. Brunsv. dom. p. 121. 



§ Flore Medicale, torn. iv. p. 165. 



j| Memoires sur l'illecebra ou la petite Joubarbe, &c. 



f Waller's Brit. Dom. Herb. p. 336. 



