76 NATURAL iriSTOBY OF PLANTS. 



resemblins: the Hellebores in every respect, with whose rhizomes 

 those of the Baueberry have often been mixed.' 



The various species of Jdo/fi^- have also been substituted for the 

 ilcllebores, according to Clusius. They seem to have the same 

 general properties as the Crowfoots. Pallas relates that the root- 

 stocks of the perennial species act as emmenagogues ; and the Cajjc 

 Kinmltonias yre irritating enough to give one of the species the name 

 of K. vesicntoria, and it is in fact used in that country as a vesicant.' 



The Anemones of this country are acrid/ containing a neutral, 

 very virulent principle called anemomnc, discovered by Heyer and 

 Brunswick.. They irritate and vesicate the skin, are employed as 

 antipsorics in veterinary medicine, and are said to kill certain 

 animals if they feed on them. Pulsatilla is much used by the 

 homojopathists, who allege that it is an excellent antidote to 

 mercury, and that taken as snuff it is sovereign against cepha- 

 lalgia and neuralgia, and also against colic, constipation, and 

 diarrhoea, certain forms of haemorrhage, rheumatism, convulsions, 

 &c. Allopathists' know that it is irritant and vesicant, like most 

 of the Uammculacece. They ascribe to its revulsive action the 

 remedial powers which country folks assert to be produced in certain 

 fevers, if the leaves are applied continuously to the wrists. It 

 sometimes induces healthy action in herpetic surfaces, but it may 

 also ulcerate ; it has been vaunted as efficacious against gout, itch, 

 syphilis, amaurosis, hooping-cough, amenorrhoea, and calculus. 

 Oreila showed that it should be ranked among the most dangerous 

 irritant poisons. It is used to prepare a distilled water sometimes 

 employed as a cosmetic. There is no virtue that has not been 

 attributed to llcpafica ; its very name shows that it was thought to 

 cure liver complaints ; it was also thought efficacious against affec- 

 tions of the lungs, skin, and bladder, in hernias and wounds ; now- 

 a-days it has fallen into disuse. 



Several of the Ramimdacece are bitter, and are hence esteemed as 



» MruTiAY, App. Med., iii. 48. — Bentlet, '^ Dwf.Enc. Sc. Med ./iLiO. 



rharm. Journ., iii. 109. \_A. racemosa and Cimi- ^ Hart. & Sond., FL Cap., i. 4. 



cifiiija have been used with great success in Eng- * Physicians formerly confounded most of 



land in nnienorrlicea, dysnienorrhoea, menor- them with the Crowfoots, under the common 



rhagia, and to rei)lace ergot; it lias also been name of Coquerets, attributing nearly the same 



found useful in various forms of rheumatic gout, properties to them. 



rheumatism, lumbago, &c. Sec Ringer, J/aMc/i. * Storck, Lihelhs de vm medico Pulsatillae 



of P rail. Thcrap. pp. 286-1). TKA^•!S.] ni(jric., 1771. — Guibourt, op. cU., 688. 



