STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 
caraway. It is a most valuable domestic medicine, safe and 
simple; its curative properties in cases of obstinate dysen- 
terical disorders deserve to be widely known. 
It was from an old Canadian settler that I learned the 
virtue of the Spignet-root, for it is by that name it is known 
in country places. I have tested its efficacy in many cases 
of that common and often fatal disorder to which young 
children are subject during the hot summer months in 
Canada. For the benefit of anxious mothers I give the 
following preparation from this valuable root: 
Recipe.—Take the long roots, which are covered with a 
wrinkled brown skin, wash them well and remove the outer 
bark; then scrape down the white fibrous part, which is the 
portion of the root that is to be made use of, throwing aside 
the inner hard central heart, which is not so good. 
A large tablespoonful of the scraped root may be boiled 
in a pint of good milk till the quantity is reduced to one- 
half; a small stick of cinnamon and a lump of white sugar 
boiled down with the milk improve the flavor, add to its 
astringent virtue, and make the medicine quite palatable. 
The dose for an infant is a teaspoonful, twice a day; for 
an adult, a dessert-spoonful twice or thrice a day, till the 
disorder is checked. 
The months of August and September are the best time 
to obtain the roots, which have then come to perfection. 
The strengthening and purifying nature of this plant 
makes it quite safe as a medicine even for a young infant. 
The preparation is by no means unpalatable; it is sweet 
and slightly bitter, aromatic and astringent. I have seen 
children that had been reduced to the last stage of debility 
restored, after taking three or four doses, to a healthy state 
‘of body; it purifies the blood and strengthens the system. 
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