PREFACE. 



The work now offered to the Profession it is hoped may supply a defi- 

 ciency that has long existed in our medical literature. In Europe many able 

 treatises on this subject have appeared, but none have issued from the Ame- 

 rican press. It is true, we have some excellent publications on the Vegetable 

 Materia Medica of the United States ; one by Dr. Bigelow, and a second by 

 Dr. W. P. C. Barton, both deserving of the highest praise, but both are now 

 out of print, and are likewise too expensive for general use. To these may 

 be added the " Medical Flora" of Rafinesque, which contains some important 

 notices and facts as regards our native plants, but mingled with much that is 

 incorrect and futile. 



The student who wishes to obtain correct systematical descriptions of the 

 various plants employed in medicine, must either consult a long series of ex- 

 pensive books, or be content with the short notices to be met with in the 

 usual treatises on the Materia Medica, and hence the important subject of 

 Medical Botany has been almost wholly neglected in this country. To 

 supply this want, has been the aim of the author in the present publication, 

 which, whilst it gives a general view of the Vegetable Materia Medica, is still 

 sufficiently cheap to be within the reach of all. 



It may be asked, will not the excellent works of Pereira, Royle, Ballard 

 and Garrod, and Drs. Wood and Bache, supply all the botanical knowledge 

 that is required by the student ? We think not ; the intention of the authors 

 of these treatises is rather to present to their readers an account of medicinal 

 articles, and of their composition and uses, than to dwell on the characters 

 and history of those derived from the vegetable kingdom ; at the same time, 

 they all contain much that is interesting and important on these topics. The 



