188 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 4, 1828. 



Observations on the Medicinal Efficacy of 



WHITE MUSTARD SEED. 



Written by a gentleman in Lincolnsliire — from his 



personal experience — and originally circulated 



hy him, for the general benefit. 



« In the month of June, J 822, I first made trial 

 rif the White Mustard Seed, mcre'y as an aperi- 

 ent ; when the generally improved state of my 

 feelings, which immediately followed, inclining 

 me to give it credit for other medicinal proper- 

 ties of at least equal value, I gave it to some of 

 the sick poor in the neighborhood, with a success 

 that e.xcited my astonishment. — From that time to 

 the present I have been in the habit of recom- 

 tiionding it very generally, and the opinion which 

 ( have always entertained is now fully confirmed, 

 'hat the public are not aware of its very extraor- 

 dinary powers, nor of the very great variety of 

 cases to which it is applicable ; and that in order 

 to its general adoption as a remedy for disease, its 

 virtues require only to be known, to be ndsquate- 

 iy appreciated. 



The White Mustard Seed is an almost certain 

 remedy for all complaints connected with disor- 

 dered functions of the stomach, liver and bowels, 

 and has been eminently successful in the follow- 

 ing cases : — In tendency of blood to the head, 

 headache, weakness of the eyes and voice, and 

 hoarseness ; in Asthma, shortness of breath, 

 wheezing, cough, and other distressing afiections 

 af the chest ; In Indigestion, oppression after eat- 

 ing, heartburn, sickness, wind and spasms, cramp, 

 and other uneasy affections of the stomach ; in 

 debility, uneasiness, pain and sense of tenderness 

 and soreness in the interior, and particularly at 

 the pit of tlie stomach, and in pain in the sides, 

 and the lower part of the body ; in all complaints 

 arising from bilo, scirrhous liver, and other mor- 

 bid affections of that organ ; in deficient perspi- 

 ration, gravel, scanty and unhealthy state of the 

 nrine, and other disorders of the skin and kid- 

 neys ; in relaxed and irritable bowels, flatulence, 

 and occasional, or habitual costivcness ; in severe 

 colds, rheumatism, lumbago, spasms and cramp in 

 the body or limbs, partial and general dropsy, 

 palsy, coldness of the limbs and feet ; and in loss 

 of appetite, failure of sleep, weakness of nerves, 

 3epression of spirits, and general debility of the 

 system. In 'Vgue, Gout, Rheumatic Fever, Epi- 

 lepsy, Scrofula, Scurvy, Piles, Erysipelas or St. 

 Anthony's Fire, in the dreadfully painful affection 

 called the Small Pox, Typhus and Scarlet Fevers, 

 and other severe disorders, it has likewise been 

 taken with very considerable advantage. For the 

 long round worms, as well as the small white 

 ones, it is also incomparably the best remedy, in- 

 .ismuch as both in children and grown up persons, 

 it not only destroys those reptiles, but if perse 

 vered in long enough to restore the tone of the 

 stomach and bowels, will entirely prevent the re- 

 currence in future. 



The following case furnishes a striking proof 

 of the extraordinary remedial pov/er of the Mus- 

 tard Seed. A very respectable Surgeon and A- 

 pothecary, whom I have long known, a person of 

 regular and rather abstemious habits, who, during 

 a period of thirty years, had sustained the fatigue 

 of a most extensive country practice, witli scarce- 

 ly a day's illness, at the age of fifty-two was sud- 

 tlenly attacked with a severe pain in tho left side 

 and lower part of tho body. Supposing the dis- 

 Oftse to arise from constipated bowels, he had re- 



course to calomel, rhubarb, castor oil, and sev 

 eral other active aperients, without obtuiuing re- 

 lief. He then took an emetic, was bled largely 

 in the arm, used a hot bath, was blistered in the 

 part afflicted, and lay for seventy hours in a most 

 profuse perspiration. By this treatment the pain 

 grndu;illy abated ; leaving him, however, at the 

 end of four days extremely weak and emaciated. 

 For the space of two years afterwards he had 

 frequent and severe returns of the pain ; and his 

 constitution being undermined, the stomach, liver, 

 and kidneys became sensibly aff'ected ; and indi- 

 gestion, constipation and flatulence, were succeed- 

 ed by every appearance of general decay. Hav- 

 ing consulted several professional men, and taken 

 a great variety of medicines during the period, 

 but to no good purpose, in November, 1822, he 

 made trial of the Mustard Seed ; and it is remark- 

 able that in a very few days after taking this rem- 

 edy tho pain entirely ceased, and has never since 

 returned. The action of tho affected organs was 

 gradually improved, digestion was restored, the 

 bowels resumed their functions, and at different 

 times he was relieved by the discharge of several 

 small portions of gravel. Encouraged by these 

 advantases, he continued the use of the Seed 

 with increased confidence. In November, 1823, 

 he discharged with case a large rugged oblong 

 portion of gravel : and, to use his own expression, 

 his health had then, and some time before, attain- 

 ed a state of wonderful improvement. 



The White Mustard Seed is also fully as valua- 

 ble for the prevention as for the cure of disease ; 

 and of its power as a preventive, the following 

 case is a remarkable illustration. A friend of 

 mine had for five or six years previous to 1823, 

 been regularly attacked with the hay or summer 

 Asthma, in the months of June or July, in each of 

 these years. The attacks were always violent, 

 and for the most part accompanied with some dan- 

 ger ; and such was the impressions made on his 

 constitution by the disease, and the remedies re- 

 sorted to, — of which bleeding and blistering were 

 the chief, — that each illness led to a long confine- 1 

 ment to the house, extending to a period of near- j 

 ly three months. In the early part of 1823, he re- 

 solved to make trial of the Mustard Seed, in or- 

 der to prevent, if possible, a recurrence of the 

 complaint, and has since regularly taken a des- 

 sert spoonful about an hour after dinner, daily, to 

 the present time ; during which long period he 

 has not only wholly escaped the disease, but his 

 health has never been interrupted by illness of 

 any kind, and has been progressively improving, 

 until he is now enjoying a greater degree of 

 strength and activity, and much better spirits, 

 than he recollects ever to have had before. The 

 most formidable bodily evils to which we are ex- 

 posed, are well known to originate in colds, to 

 which, from the extreme variableness of our cli- 

 mate, we are peculiarly liable. As a means of 

 preventing this fruitful source of disease, by ob 

 viating the beneficial effects of sudden exposnire, 

 tho Mustard Seed has in most instances been re 

 markahly successful. Ever since 1832, I bave 

 myself regularly taken it once every day ; and 

 during all this time I bave never been troubled 

 with the slightest cold, and have enjoyed an in- 

 terrupted flow of health. A near relation of mine, 

 whose life for many years had been frequently 

 exposed to imminent danger fVom inflammatory 

 affections of the chest, brought on by cold, of 

 which bo waa remarkably susceptible, has also 



happily experienced a similar advantage from it : 

 and if persons of consumptive and delicate habits 

 or otherwise constitutionally susceptible of cold, 

 would avail themselves of this hint, and if all per- 

 sons indiscriminately on the first attack of dis- 

 ease, would have recourse to the Mustard Seed 

 for a few weeks, the extent to v/hich human suf- 

 fering might be thus prevented, would, it may 

 reasonably be presumed, exceed all calculation. 



In the White Mustard Seed are combined a val- 

 uable aperient and an equally valuable tonic ; and 

 thug, while it affords tho most salutary and com- 

 fortiible relief to the bowels, it never weakens, 

 but on the contrary always strengthens, in a very 

 remarkable degree, both those organs and the 

 stomach, and ultimately the whole system. Its 

 efficacy probably consists in a communication of 

 energy and activity to those movements of the 

 canal by which the aliment is propelled, and in 

 this way perhaps it operates in animating and im- 

 proving those secretions of the stomach, pancreas, 

 and liver, by which digestion and chylification, 

 those most important functions in the animal econ- 

 omy, are effected. It has very frequently succeed- 

 ed uli en all other medicines have failed ; it never 

 loses its effect by use ; it requires neither confine- 

 ment to the house, nor any particular attention to 

 diet ; and, in the absence of decidedly inflammato- 

 ry symptoms, is always safe. In order to take it 

 with advantage, the patient need only attend to 

 its effects on the bowels, which, geneially speak- 

 ing, it is not designed to purge, but merely to 

 maintain in an uniformly open and comfortable 

 state ; and in securing this effect, of which any 

 one may easily judge for himself, the whole art 

 in tho use of tho medicine consists. 



After what has been already stated, it is almost 

 superfluous to observe that the Mustard Seed is 

 peculiarly adapted to the case of those, whose 

 habits, situations, and conditions in life, render 

 them more particularly liable to disordered func- 

 tions of the stomach, liver and bowels ; with the 

 endless variety of distressing maladies flowing 

 from those causes. Of this class are principally 

 the studious and sedentary; persons whose consti- 

 tutions have suffered from long residence in hot 

 climates; Mariners and Sailor,-^ while at sea: 

 Manufacturers and Mechanics of every description: 

 Miners and such as work under ground ; the indo- 

 lent and intemperate : the poor who suffer from 

 hard labor and scanty means of support, and per- 

 sons advanced in years. To children also in the 

 early period of infancy, the White Mustard Seed 

 is highly beneficial not only as a remedy for worms 

 but as a means of obviating the extreme dfibility 

 of the stomach and bowels so frequently attached 

 to their tender years. 



The Mustard Seed is altvays to be sieallowed 

 whole, not broken nor masticated : and either a- 

 lone, or in a little water, or other liquid, warm or 

 cold ; and the best general rules tor taking it are 

 the following: — Generally speakmj, tjiree doses 

 should be taken every day withoa* intermission; 

 the first about an hour before bieakfaat, the sec- 

 ond about an bour after dinner, and the third ei- 

 ther at bed time or an hour before : tho<!e who dino 

 so late as six or seven o'clm k, taking the second 

 dose at two or three o'c'ork in thf afternoon, and 

 the third about an hour after dinnei. Each dose 

 should contain that quantity, which in the whole, 

 shall be found sufficient to produce a healthy evac- 

 uation of the bowels every day. Two or three 

 large tea-spoonsful in each doae will generally 



