PREFACE. 



The object of the following Dissertation is to ascer- 

 tain the medical virtues of one of the 'indigenous pro- 

 ductions of this country, and thus to increase the ma- 

 teria medica of the United States. For this purpose 

 the writer made choice of the Eupatorium Perfoli- 

 ATUM, one of the most common of our vegetable pro- 

 ducts, and which for a considerable time has been em- 

 ployed as a domestic remedy in the rnanagement of 

 certain diseases. The subject seemed to divide itself 

 more particularly into three general heads, and accord- 

 ingly it has been considered, first, as to its botanical 

 description ; secondly, as to its character as ascertain- 

 ed by chemical analysis; and, thirdly, as an article of 

 medicine. Under the first head, little more has been 

 said than to offer to the reader a concise botanical ac- 

 count of the plant. As to the second head, with a view 

 of distinctly ascertaining its chemical properties, a se- 

 ries of experiments was instituted. These have been 

 detailed with as much brevity as was thought consistent 

 with perspicuity ; and, with the observations made 

 upon the experiments, the component parts of this vege- 

 table, as far as ascertained by analysis, are given. On 

 this part of his subject, it would be injustice in the 



