428 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



bitter and acrid taste. No chemical examination has been made of them, 

 that I am aware of. 



Medical Properties. — This plant has long been in use in its native coun- 

 try for a variety of complaints, but it was unknown to the medical profes- 

 sion until the publication of memoirs on the subject by Gmelin, Loefflers, 

 Koelpin, and others. It appears, from these accounts, that the Siberians, 

 when overcome by fatigue and cold, apply a decoction of the leaves to their 

 limbs, to relieve pain and induce sleep. They also administer a strong infu- 

 sion in rheumatism and other painful affections. This remedy occasions a 

 sensation of heat, with a kind of intoxication, and a peculiar creeping and 

 uneasy sensation of the affected parts. No fluid is permitted to be taken, 

 until in a few hours alvine evacuations occur, and all the disagreeable symp- 

 toms caused by the medicine disappear, and with them those of the disorder. 



It has since been used, with much success, in Russia, Germany, France, 

 and England, not only in rheumatism but also in gout, though its use is, 

 principally confined to the two first of these countries. From the experi- 

 ments of Dr. Home and others in England, it appears to be a stimulating 

 diaphoretic, with some narcotic qualities, and also to possess the power of 

 diminishing arterial action in a very marked manner. Sometimes it excites 

 headache, vertigo, nausea, vomiting, and other unpleasant symptoms. From 

 all that can be gathered, it is evidently a powerful remedy, and one that has 

 proved beneficial in a class of diseases that often baffle the best-directed cura- 

 tive means, but the trials made with it are not sufficient to assign it a definite 

 rank in the Materia Medica. 



Mr. Churchill recommends the following mode of administration : half an 

 ounce of the leaves are to be placed in twelve ounces of water, and gently 

 simmered^ not boiled, for four hours. The fourth of this infusion is to be 

 given every four hours, the patient kept in bed, and the effects closely 

 watched. 



Another European species, the R. ferrugineum, is considered as poison- 

 ous, and to be possessed of the same properties as the above. Two of our 

 native species, the R. maximum and punctatum, are said to be stimulant 

 and astringent. Dr. B. S. Barton (Collections, 19) says the fruit is certainly 

 a poison, and that the brown powder attached to the footstalks and in the 

 seed vessels is considerably errhine, but he does not state, as is attributed to 

 him, that it had acquired reputation in the cure of rheumatism, but refers to 

 the R. chrysanthum as having that reputed power. Michaux observes, that 

 the honey of bees, where these plants abound, is often poisonous. 



Kalmia. — Linn. 



Calyx 5-parted. Corolla hypocrateriform, border on the under side with ten cornute 

 protuberances, and as many cavities, in which the anthers are concealed. Capsule 

 5-celled, many-seeded. 



A North American genus of evergreen shrubs, with alternate or ternately 

 verticillated leaves, which are persistent except in K. cuneata. The flowers 

 are in terminal racemose compound corymbs. All the species are considered 

 poisonous to cattle, though deer and goats feed on them with impunity. 



K. latifolia, Linn. — Leaves on long petioles, clustered, coriaceous, ovate-lanceolate, 

 entire, green on both sides ; corymbs terminal, viscidly pubescent. 



Linn., Sp. PI. 545; Rafinesque, Med. Flor., ii. 16; Bigelow, Med. Bot. 

 i. 137. 



