WORMWOOD. 



:ukalliie fait, is a powerful diuretic in dropfical cafes. The 

 tifential oil is fometimes given, in dofes of a drop or two, 

 properly diluted by folution in fpirit of wine, as a mild 

 antifpafmodic. Its more frequent ufe is a vermifuge ; for 

 which purpofe it is both applied to the belly, and taken in 

 pills made with crumb of bread. Dr. Lewis, however, 

 fays, that the fpirituous extraft promifes to be, in this inten- 

 tion, preferable to the pure oil ; as it contains, along with 

 the oil, all the bitter matter of the wormwood. This plant 

 very powerfully refills putrefaftion, and is made a principal 

 ingredient in antifeptic fomentations. Boerhaave commends, 

 in tertian agues, a medicated liquor, prepared by grinding 

 about feven grains of the oil with a drachm of fugar, and 

 two drachms of the alkaline fait extracted from the afhes of 

 wormwood, and afterwards diffolving . the compound infix 

 ounces of the diftilled water of the plant. Two hours be- 

 fore the fit is expefted, the patient is to bathe his feet and 

 legs in viarm water, and then drink half an ounce of the 

 liquor every quarter of an hour, till the two hours are ex- 

 pired : by this means, he fays, cafes of this kind are gene- 

 rally cured with eafe and fafety, provided there is no 

 fcirrhofity or fuppuration. 



Dr. Lewis obfcrves, that this medicine is a very fervice- 

 able aperient, where obllrudlions of the vifcera prohibit the 

 :mmediate ufe of the bark, and in fuch obflruttions as the 

 imprudent ufe of the bark may have occafioned. Its vir- 

 tues, he fays, might be improved by an addition of the 

 bitter watery extraft ; though the compound, thus labori- 

 oufly prepared, would not be at all fuperior to a fimple 

 infufion of the plant in pure water, impregnated with a due 

 proportion of fixed alkaline fait. 



The roots of wormwood, fays Dr. Lewis, promife to be 

 applicable to feme ufcful purpofes : their virtue refides 

 chiefly in the cortical part ; and reftified fpirit extrafts 

 their flavour more pcrfeftly than watery liquors. The 

 Edinburgh college dire£ls a tinfture of the dried flowering 

 tops of wormwood, in the proportion of fix ounces to a 

 quart of rectified fpirit, under the title of linBiira abfinthli. 

 This, in the opinion of Dr. CuUen, is a light and agreeable 

 bitter, and at the fame time a ftrong impregnation of the 

 wormwood. Dr. CuUen concurs with Bergius and Gladitfch 

 in afcribing to the odour of wormwood a quality of occa- 

 fioning fome confufion of the head ; and formerly, he fays, 

 when it was the fafhion with fome people in the country to 

 drink purl, that is, ale in which wormwood is infufed, it 

 was commonly alleged to be more intoxicating than other 

 ales. This effeft he inclines to attribute to its narcotic 

 power ; and he is of opinion, that there is in every bitter, 

 when largely employed, a power of deftroying the fenfibility 

 id irritability of the nervous power. The dofe in fub- 

 ' :;nce rnay be 3} to 3ij, and of the infufion, made by 

 nacerating 5vj of the plant in fjxij of water, fjj to f5xij 

 •iliree or four times a day. Lewis's Mat. Med. Woodville's 

 Med. Bot. 



The afhes of wormwood afford a more pure alkaline fait 

 Jnan moft other vegetables, excepting bean-ftalks, broom, 

 , nd the larger trees. In tlie Amcen. Acad. vol. ii. p. i6o. 

 i^i.inaeus mentions two cafes, in which an effence, prepared 

 ' om this plant, and taken for a confiderable time, prevented 

 iC formation of (tones in the kidneys or bladder ; the pa- 

 v.ents forbearing the ufe of wine and acids. 



Many naufeous infi-'cls are deftroyed or driven away by 

 the fmell of this plant ; and it is no uncommon praftice 

 ;. r.ong the good women in the country, to preferve their 

 ..loihes from moths, by laying bundles of dried wormwood 

 acnong them. 



Soine of our brewers have a metiwd of ufii.g wormwood 

 inftead of the hops, to give the bitter tafle to their malt- 

 iquors, and to preferve them. It is found to anfwer the 

 latter purpofe very well ; but the tafte is fo difagreeable, 

 that It IS much complained of. The reafon of this is, that 

 the people who ufe it do not underfland the time of eather- 

 ing it. " ° 



All plants are fulleft of juice while in the fhoot, but fulleft 

 of virtue when they have their feeds on them. This is the 

 cafe with wormwood, as well as a thoufand others; and 

 though, in the feeding-time, it produces much more flavour 

 than when younger, yet it is without that naufeous bitter of 

 the crude juice, which gives us the diftafte to the plant. 



Some people have found the proper way of managing 

 wormwood, and have given a flavour with it to their malt- 

 liquors, even preferable, in the opinion of all palates, to 

 that given in the common way by hops. 



The method is this : the plant is to be gathered when 

 fully ripe, and the feeds upon it, and in this ftate hung up 

 in fmall bunches to dry. When thoroughly dried, a cer- 

 tain quantity of good ftrong malt-liquor is to be impreg- 

 nated with it, to the utmoft ftrength that it can poflibly 

 give it. This is to be fet by for ufe, to add to all the reft. 

 When the hops fhould in the common way be added to 

 the beer, this liquor is to be added in a proper quantity, 

 making the tafte the judge when there is enough of it. 



By this means juft what degree of bitter is required may 

 be given to the liquor, and the bitter of this common plant, 

 thus managed, is as perfeftly agreeable as that of any vege- 

 table in the world. 



The wormwood, for this purpofe, fhould have its feeds 

 carefully preferved in the drying, and it is beft if not ufed 

 till the year after it was gathered. Phil. Tranf. N° 124. 



The effential fait of wormwood is afforded in great quan- 

 tity, and poffeffes in many refpefts the virtues of the plant. 

 It does not differ from other vegetable fixed alkalies, provided 

 they be equally pure. 



Wormwood ftiares with all other bitters the virtues of an 

 abfterfive deobftruent, and is in fome degree purgative, as 

 all bitters are. Wormwood is one of thofe plants which 

 the chemifts have generally chofen for their proceffes of the 

 refufcitation of plants from their afhes ; and though the pre- 

 tended principles of this art are falfe, yet there have been 

 fome of the artifts fo cunning as to form reprefentations of 

 this plant, that have deceived and puzzled the greateft un- 

 believers, though they have not convinced them. Phil. 

 Tranf. N° 74. 



Wormwood, Sea, nrtemifta marltima of Linnseus, falftly 

 called in our markets Roman ivormiuood, and fubftituted for 

 it : it is a native of Britain, and grows plentifully about 

 our falt-marfhes, and in feveral parts on the fea-coall, 

 flowering in Auguft and September. In tafte and fmell it 

 is lefs unpleafant than the common wormwood ; and hence 

 is preferred by the college as an ingredient in fome of the 

 diftilled waters ; the effential oil is lefs ungrateful, and the 

 watery extrad lefs bitter than thofe of the common fort. 

 The virtues are the fame, differing only in degree. It is 

 lefs effeftual as an antifeptic and anthelmintic, but more 

 e'.igible as a ftomachic. A conferve of the tops, made by 

 beating them with thrice their weight of fine fugar, is kept 

 in the fhops ; but it is now fcarcely ever ufed. 



Wormwood, Roivan, artcmtfia pontka of Linnaeus, has 

 more numerous, n.ore finely divided, and darker coloured 

 leaves than the former, and is hoary only u.iderneath 

 whereas that is hoary all over. This is a foreign fpccies, 

 but as hardy and as eafily railed as the others. It is con- 



fiderably 



