ARALIA. 



157 



besides common vegetable principles. The constituents of the other spe- 

 cies are unknown. 



Preparations. — Whatever virtues any of these plants possess are yielded 

 to boiling water. Fluid extracts of two or three of them occur as commer- 

 cial articles. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — All these plants possess, to a greater or 

 less extent, aromatic and stimulant properties, and probably no others, 

 though many diverse virtues have been attributed to them. A. spinosa 

 is apparently the most active. A. nudicaulis, as its common name (wild 

 sarsaparilla) indicates, was formerly supposed to partake of the virtues of 



Fig. 132 — Aralia quinqnefolia. 



true sarsaparilla, but as the latter plant is at present little esteemed, the 

 reputed virtues of the former are not worthy of much attention. A. quin- 

 quefolia (ginseng) is at present only esteemed by the Chinese, who consider 

 it a panacea. 



As remarked above, all these plants are aromatic and stimulant. 

 Given in warm infusion they are capable of inducing diaphoresis, and in 

 this manner acting beneficially in certain cases, as chronic rheumatism and 

 various cutaneous eruptions. Doubtless the manner in which the drug is 

 administered has quite as much to do with the effect produced as any 

 medicinal property of the drug itself. Hence the alterative properties 

 formerly attributed to these plants have little foundation in fact. 



