22 



ON THE VERONICA QUINQUEFOLIA AS A REMEDY FOR 

 SCROFULA. 



BY WILLIAM R. PRINCE. 



I am not aware whether diseases derived from parentage can be 

 eradicated ; but I am fully satisfied that there is no impurity of the 

 blood, derived from whatever source, that is within the limit of possible 

 cure by remedials ever yet applied, that will not be eradicated by the 

 proper use of the root of the species of plant which I now shall proceed 

 to name. In regard to the plant remedial for small-pox I speak with 

 less force, because the discovery of its efficiency is more recent, but I 

 find the fact attested by great numbers, and no denials of its potent 

 relief. 



Until my recent tour through Mexico, I had no realising conception 

 of the extent, and of the apparent abiding existence of scrofula, among 

 whole tribes of the inhabitants of earth. It has been with me an 

 enigma difficvdt to solve in connection with Divine power, wisdom, and 

 love, that children are afflicted through the errors of preceding genera- 

 tions. I find its solution alone in the mighty truth, that all moral and 

 physical influences and results are based on the all-pervading principle 

 of an eternal retributive justice. In a large district of Mexico bordering 

 on the Pacific and extending 150 miles inland, the entire popidation 

 consists of the Pinta or painted race, their faces and their skin on every 

 part presenting the appearance of various coloured calico. The cause 

 of this peculiar characteristic is declared to have resulted from the 

 perpetuity of scrofula by a lack of adecpiate cures, and the intermarriage 

 of such persons throughout that region of country. I was told that the 

 men possess less strength than other tribes. The only hope for the 

 repurification of this unfortunate race, and for others who have 

 inherited similar maladies, consists in the constant exercise by nature 

 of all her recuperative energies toward the resumption of her primitive 

 prerogative of health and purity, and in effecting this she will avail 

 herself of every means which may influence such a result. I have 

 made these initiatory remarks, which some may deem superfluous, by 

 way of explaining why my mind, which has always been devoted to the 

 culture of trees and plants, has been attracted to a consideration of the 

 maladies which so sorely afflict humanity. 



There are 150 species of the Veronica described in botanical 

 works, of which 22 species are natives of the United States, and it is 

 matter of surprise that Eaton, in his general " Manual of Botany for 

 North America," fails to include and describe all of our native species. 

 Our botanical umpires, Torrey and Gray, we trust, will, in the conclud- 

 ing part of their great work, amply fulfil the task which they have so 

 nobly be^tin. The present species hns been found in several localities 



