Introduction 21 



Rosaceae: Bitter almond, sweet almond. 



Rubiaceae: Cinchona, ipecac. 



Scrophulariaceae: Digitalis. 



Solanaceae: Belladonna, henbane. 



Sterculinaceae: Cacao butter. 



Styraceae: Benzoin. 



Umbelliferae: Anise and oil of, ammoniac, asa- 



fetida, fennel. 

 Valerianaceae: Valerian. 

 Zingiberaceae: Ginger. 



This is a world-wide list of popular official botanic 

 drugs and is more eloquent than is much argument. 

 Note that it contains only ten markedly toxic sub- 

 stances. 



In the United States some other drugs are much 

 in use, partly due to Homeopathic and Eclectic 

 recommendations. Including those of the Homeo- 

 paths and Eclectics, these may be named as actually 

 in extensive use: Aconite, baptisia, buchu, bryonia, 

 cactus, capsicum, chenopodium oil, cimicifuga, cin- 

 namon, coca (cocine), echinacea, eucalyptus oil, 

 gelsemium, hops, malt, phytolacca, pilocarpus, podo- 

 phyllum, pulsatilla, resorcin, scoparius, sanguinaria, 

 thuja, veratrum, viburnum, wild cherry twenty- 

 six added to the table, nearly half of them toxic. 

 In the worldly-wide table only one-sixth of the 

 drugs named are markedly toxic. 



This shows an American inclination to include 

 the toxic botanic drugs and to exclude the non- 

 toxic ones. Primarily this is due to the American 

 temperament, which demands visible results, and 

 to our bent toward demanding a definite physio- 

 logical action of a drug. In other words, mystery 

 does not appeal strongly to the American physician. 



