408 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



tipped with a short cone. Achenia terete, tapering to the base or fusiform, somewhat 

 ribbed, commonly hairy. Pappus a single series of rather rigid barbellate or strongly 

 scabrous capillary bristles. 



Mostly perennial herbs indigenous to the colder regions of the northern 

 hemisphere, with simple stems, having solitary or somewhat corymbose, 

 large heads of yellow flowers. The leaves are undivided and opposite. 



A. Montana, Linn. — Radical leaves obovate, entire 4 the cauline ones in one or two 

 pairs. Stem one to three-headed. Involucre rough, glandular. 



Linn., Sp. PL 1245; Woodville, 1, t. 17; Stephenson and Churchill, ii. 

 123; Lindley, FL Med. 465. 



Common Name. — Leopard bane. 



Foreign Names. — Arnique, Tabac des Vosges, Fr. ; Arnica, It. ; Wol- 

 ferley, Ger. 



Description. — Root blackish, woody, abrupt at the lower end, furnished with many 

 long, slender fibres. The stem, which rises about a foot in height, is simple, obscurely 

 angled, striated, rough, hairy, and terminated by one to three upright peduncles, each 

 bearing one flower of a deep yellow colour, somewhat tinged with brown. The radical 

 leaves are ovate, entire, ciliated, and obtuse ; the cauline ones are in opposite pairs, and 

 lanceolate. The involucre is cylindrical, and composed of fifteen or sixteen rough, hairy, 

 lanceolate scales, of a dingy green colour, but purple at the points. The disk florets are 

 very numerous, tubular, with a five-lobed limb; those of the radius about fourteen, ligu- 

 late, striated, three-toothed, and hairy at the base. The achenia are oblong, blackish, 

 hairy, and crowned with a straw-coloured capillary pappus. 



The Arnica is a native of the more northern parts of Europe and Asia, in 

 moist shady situations, and flowering in June and July. It does not appear 

 that it was known to the ancients, though Matthiolus was of opinion that it 

 was mentioned by Dioscorides, but as it is a native of no part of Greece or 

 the adjoining countries, it is probable that he is in error. Tabernsemontanus 

 is the first who noticed it, some time in the sixteenth century. All parts of 

 the plant are used, but the flowers are preferred ; these, when dried, are 

 yellowish, and have an aromatic but unpleasant odour, and an acrid nauseous 

 taste. The root is blackish, and possesses the same sensible properties as 

 the flowers. The leaves have an aromatic smell and excite sneezing. The 

 flowers have been analyzed by Chevalier and Lassaigne with the following 

 results : Resin having the odour of the flowers, a Bitter acrid matter resem- 

 bling cytisine, Gallic acid, a Yellow colouring matter, Gum, Albumen, and 

 some salts. Dr. A. T. Thomson (Lond. Dispen.) is of opinion that the 

 plant also contains an igasaurate of strychnia or brucia. 



Medical Properties. — In large doses Arnica exerts a powerful influence on 

 the system. It causes great anxiety, especially in the stomach, with burning 

 in the throat, nausea, and sometimes vomiting. If it reach the intestines it 

 induces colicky pains, rarely followed by alvine evacuations. If the dose be 

 still larger, it operates on the nervous system, causing headache, vertigo, and 

 twitchings of the extremities. This remedy is much used in Germany in a 

 variety of diseases, and the evidence in favour of its curative powers is very 

 great. Stoll employed it with much success in dysentery and considered it 

 as a specific in certain cases, as where the disease was epidemic, and had 

 assumed a typhoid form {Med. Prac.) The fullest trial was made of it by 

 Dr. Collin of Vienna; he states that he cured 36 quotidian, 46 tertian, and 58 

 quartan intermittents with the extract of Arnica, a drachm being given during 

 the day. This febrifuge power of the article is confirmed by the testimony 

 of Dr. Sebold of Prague. 



It is also given in palsy, tremors, and amaurosis, but the evidence as to its 



