Botanic Remedies 187 



Attention should here be directed to the work of 

 Macht, of Johns Hopkins University, upon the so- 

 called emmenagogue oils apiol, oil of pennyroyal, 

 oil of savine, oil of tansy, oil of rue, oil of thyme? 

 and oil of turpentine. None of these exhibited the 

 least stimulating action on the uterus. On the 

 contrary, they caused it to relax, and even paralyzed 

 it, pennyroyal, tansy, and apiol being the most 

 toxic, and turpentine the least toxic. These para- 

 lyzant actions were shown upon both the normal 

 and the abnormal uterus. These contraction- 

 inhibitory and paralyzant-actions were findings from 

 direct strip tests with weak solutions or emulsions. 



Indeed, all pharmacologists are in agreement that 

 very few drugs have an ergot action, and that the 

 so-called "female remedies," with the exception of 

 caulophyllum, q. v., depress the activity of strips 

 of uterine muscle. Macht might just as well have 

 included in his report pulsatilla, aletris, scrofularia, 

 scutellaria, dioscorea, viburnum, valerian, senecio, 

 passiflora, mitchella, and helonias as having no 

 stimulating action on the uterus. Indeed, some of 

 them, as is shown under their separate sections in 

 this book, have no direct action of any kind on the 

 uterus. 



Now to return to helonias: what do we find with 

 reference to it? 



Helonias, helenium, aletris, and some other agents, 

 as well as certain of the so-called emmenagogue oils, 

 cause uterine relaxation and even paralysis, never 

 stimulation, except by general systemic poisoning 

 and gastroenteric irritation. I believe the acrid 

 principles to be largely responsible for the stomachic 

 and uterine sedative action in small doses. 



