NAT. ORDER. — DUMOSE.^. 
43 
fras, and the bark of white oak, and other thing's, and make a decoc- 
tion of the mixture, which is much recommended by them as a wash 
in foul ulcers and gangrene. 
Upon the whole, the Prinos verticillatus may be confidently re- 
commended to the notice of physicians as a plant possessing in an 
eminent degree, the properties of vegetable astringent and tonic medi- 
cines. And if, added to these, we take into view the antiseptic powers 
it is reputed to possess, it will be found deserving of no ordinary com- 
mendation. Of the last mentioned property indeed from experience I 
know nothing ; but having used both bark and berries on several oc- 
casions, it is with no little satisfaction that I bear testimony to its de- 
sei'ved claim to those commendations which have been bestowed on 
it for the other virtues. 
The bark may be used in substance or in decoction. To the lat- 
ter it readily yields its virtue ; as it also does to vinous or spiritous 
menstruums. From one drachm to three of the powdered bark may 
be administered in the course of twenty-four hours. An ounce of the 
bark, added to a pint and a half of water and boiled down to a pint 
will make a useful decoction, which may be taken in the dose of a 
gill every two hours. A saturated tincture is a convenient and useful 
way of extracting the virtues of the plant ; and this tincture may be 
made by mixing the bark and berries together and letting them digest 
for a few days. 
It may be proper to caution those who gather the Prinos or Black 
Alder for medical use against mistaking for it the Candle Alder, or 
Swamp Alder, which names are applied to a species of a very different 
genus, the Betula serratula. The name Black Alder may lead to fur- 
ther mistake, since it is appropriated also to another species of Prinos, 
the Prinos ambiguus, and to the Ilex deliculata of Barton. It is not 
improbable, however, that other species of the Prinos, besides those 
under notice, will be found possessed of similar medical virtues. This 
is certainly important to enquire into. 
