All A LI A. 



ir)7 



besiik's coiuinon vegetable pnuciplea The ronstituenta of the other spe- 

 cies iiro unknown. 



PrcparaUouH. — Whatever viriues any of these phmts jiossess are yieltled 

 to boUing water. Fhiid extracts of two or three of them occur as commer- 

 cial articles. 



Mcdlrid Vropniics and Ukci^. — All these plants possess, to a ja^reater or 

 less extent, aromatic and .stimulant properties, and probably no others, 

 thoujjfh many diverse virtues have been attributed to them. A. spinosa 

 is apparently the most active. A. nudicaulis, as its common name {wild 

 mrmpardla) indicates, was formerly supposed to partake of the virtues of 



Sh^^mi 



Via. l.'!2 — Arnliii quinfiuofolin. 



true sarsaparilla, but as the latter plant is at present little esteemed, the 

 reputed virtues of the former are not worthy of much attention. A. (piin- 

 quefolia (ginncittj) is at present oniy esteemed by the Chinese, who consider 

 it a panacea. \ 



As remarked above, all these plants are aromatic and stinudant. 

 Given iu warm infusicm tliej' are capable of inducing" dia])h()resis, and in 

 this manner acting- bonelicially in certain eases, as cln-onic i-heuniatism and 

 various cutaneous eru})tions. Doubtless tlu^ manner in which tlie drug is 

 .'ulministered has quite as much to do with the eti'ect produced as any 

 medicinal pi'operty of the dru^- itHelf. Hence the alterative properties 

 formerly attributed to these plants have littlo fouudatiou in fact. 



