ON THE VERONICA QUINQUEFOLIA AS A REMEDY FOR SCROFULA. 23 



in greater or less quantities, and with, flowers of different shades, varying 

 from white to purple. The plant possesses such inestimable properties 

 as a remedial for all diseases arising from impurity of the blood, that I 

 deem it a duty to give to the world a cursory history of it, the earliest 

 details being copied from the Memoirs of William Prince, my father, 

 who was born in 1766, and died in 1843, and who took extreme pains in 

 the distribution of this plant, gratuitously, among his invalid friends 

 and to different hospitals, the great desire being that they all should 

 fully test its applicability to various diseases ; his whole life seeming to 

 overflow with purposes of benevolence. 



At the beginning of the eighteenth century there still existed a rem- 

 nant of the Indian race in the vicinity of this town, and they were 

 noted for their success in curing various diseases, and the town was 

 visited by very many persons for the purpose of obtaining what was 

 then termed the " Indian Physic." The knowledge of the cures then 

 effected by the root of this plant furnished by the Indians became so 

 wide spread, that William Prince, my grandfather, who had established 

 his nurseries here, received applications for it from all parts of the 

 Union, and having, after a long period of Indian secrecy, obtained some 

 fresh root, he by immediately planting it, succeeded in ascertaining its 

 name. He forthwith inserted it in his Catalogue as a specific for leprosy, 

 &c, and the consequent demand became so great that every locality 

 where it had grown spontaneously was nearly exhausted, and latterly 

 as high as 12 dols. has been paid for ten ounces of the fresh root, this 

 being the quantity prescribed for a patient labouring under any scrofu- 

 lous disease. Dr. Ogden, a very eminent physician, who resided and 

 died here, has stated in his Memoirs ' that twelve ounces of the root of 

 this plant, taken in moderate doses, will restore the blood of an adult 

 to the purity of that of an infant.' Dr. W. Beach has recorded in his 

 medical works a very remarkable cure of a poor man, named Noah 

 Coombes, who was a leper, covered with this disease over his entir e 

 body down to his toes, and was deemed in a dying condition, to whom 

 on hearing of his direful case, my father sent this root, and who about 

 ten weeks after came fifteen miles to thank him, he driving his own 

 waggon, aud being perfectly cured. This root has cured the severest 

 cases of mercurialised human systems that have ever been witnessed. 

 Even dropsy, as well as erysipelas, and all other scrofulous diseases, have 

 been eradicated by it. In fact it may be justly deemed the most potent 

 of all remedials for the whole chain of maladies arising from impurity of 

 the blood. I have recommended it wherever such diseases have been 

 spoken of, and have never endeavoured to make it a source of pecuniary 

 benefit, deeming always that what nature bestows on us spontaneously, 

 "man should impart freely to his brother man, and that our only just 

 claim to compensation is for our actual toil. This plant, which was 

 formerly quite plentiful in the marshy portions of our island, became 

 nearly eradicated about twenty years since, and this is probably the 



