72 
NAT. ORDER. ERICEjE. 
that which is found in dry, lofty and exposed situations, is preferred 
for medical use to that which is collected in valleys and shady 
grounds. The leaves of this plant, in a dried state, have no remark- 
able smell, but a bitterish, astringent taste, and by some have been 
used for the purpose of dying an ash color, and for tanning leather. 
The sapid matter of these leaves has been attributed rather to the 
presence of gummy than of resinous particles, as water will more 
completely extract their virtues than spirit. 
Medical Properties and Uses. The Uva ursi, though employed 
by the ancients in several diseases requiring astringent medicines, 
had almost fallen into disuse, till about the middle of the present 
century, when it first drew the attention of physicians as a useful 
remedy in calculous and nephritic affections ; and, in the years 1763 
and 1764, by the concurrent testimonies of different authors, it ac- 
quired remarkable celebrity, not only for its efficacy in gravelly com- 
plaints, but in almost every other disease to which the urinary organs 
are liable : such as ulcers of the kidneys and bladder, cystirrhcea, 
diabetes, &c, and its utility was then thought to be so fully estab- 
lished, that a celebrated Spanish writer made it his boast, that the 
man to whom these important discoveries of the effects of this plant 
ought first to be referred, was his countryman. He was, however, 
superseded in this claim by the physicians at Montpelier, who had 
been in the habit of prescribing Uva ursi in these diseases for many 
years before. But the cases published successively by De Haen 
tended more to raise the medical character of Uva ursi over Europe 
and this country, than all the other books professedly written on the 
virtues of this plant : and, encouraged by his success, many practi- 
tioners, especially in Europe, have been induced to try its effects ; 
and though the use of this plant has been frequently observed to 
mitigate the pains in calculous cases, yet in no instance do we find 
that it has produced that essential or permanent relief which is said 
to have been experienced by the German physicians. 
The virtues of this plant are variously represented by writers 
