Botanic Remedies 147 



critical and exact data available upon Crataegus 

 oxyacantha, many empirically based remedies have 

 justified themselves and it is only fair to refer to 

 an article by Dr. J. A. Hofheimer in American 

 Medicine. This paper is upon the use of crataegus 

 in angina pectoris, which is believed by Dr. Hof- 

 heimer to be essentially a cramp of the cardiac 

 muscular fibers, with a neurotic element as the 

 exciting cause. Advocating nitroglycerine for the 

 immediate relief of the attacks, he believes with 

 Dr. Thos. F. Reilly that crataegus is a mild and 

 non-poisonous cardiac remedy with antispasmodic 

 properties that renders it a valuable interval drug 

 in angina pectoris when given in double the dosage 

 of digitalis. He believes it to be more of a sedative 

 and regulator of the heart than a stimulant; a state- 

 ment vastly more probable and rational than that 

 this non-toxic agent is a cardiac stimulant. 



Physicians trying this drug should be sure the 

 preparation used is made from the English haw- 

 thorn, Crataegus oxyacantha, and not from the 

 American species, Crataegus mollis. 



My own tests of the drug have not been at all 

 conclusive. If a dose of any appreciable size is 

 given it induces nausea, and small doses do not 

 seem to exert any appreciable influence upon clin- 

 ically definite cardiac lesions. In a few minor 

 cases pseudo-angina and functional disturbances 

 I thought there was an effect in doses of 5 to 10 

 drops fl. The drug may be worthy of further 

 study ; but nothing very definite has developed thus 

 far. My own trials have been too few to warrant 

 positive opinion on my part. 



