58 
NAT. ORDER. ARACE^. 
with tender treatment in the green-house, and a rapid increase by 
offsets from its roots. 
Medical Properties and Uses. " The acrid property which re- 
sides in this, as well as all other species of arnm," says Dr. Bigelow, 
" appears to depend upon a distinct vegetable principle, at present 
but little understood. It is extremely volatile, and disappears al- 
most entirely by heat, drying, or simple exposure to the air." This 
principle appears to possess no affinity for water, alcohol, or oil, 
being volatile, and in a state of gas, inflammable. Sir John Hill, 
in his English herbal, speaks very highly of this plant as being 
useful in palsies ; " a piece of the fresh gathered root, bruised and 
taken in milk, will sometimes restore the speech at once ; and a 
continued use will perfect a cure." It is also good in scorbutic 
cases, and in all inward obstructions. It is by no means incapable, 
as is stated by some writers, of affecting the general circulation. 
On the contrai-y, we have had many satisfactory evidences. In 
the chronic, asthmatic affection»of old people, it is a remedy of 
great value. Dr. Cullen says he "has administered the root, and 
witnessed its good effects in chronic catarrhs, and in phthisis pul- 
monalis." In these complaints it has now become one of the most 
common remedies in domestic practice. It has also been prescribed 
with advantage in rheumatism, and in apthous sore mouth. In this 
latter affection, Dr. Thacher says it is a remedy of extraordinary 
and approved efficacy. It has also been recommended in the 
form of an ointment made of the fresh root, in tinea capitis and 
tetter. Dr. Burson states that the berry of the arum is more re- 
tentive of its peculiar acrimony than any other part of the plant. 
The root, which is the part used for medicinal purposes, is di- 
rected by physicians best acquainted with its properties, to be given 
in the form of a decoction, in milk ; Dr. Bigelow, however, re- 
marks that the arum triphyllum imparts none of its acrimony to 
milk on boiling ; and that the best mode of administering it, would 
be in the form of an emulsion with gum arable and sugar. 
