Nat. order. — ericeje. 
73 
on the Materia Medica. Alibert says : " All that can be said of this 
remedy, is, that its action is, under certain circumstances, manifestly 
diuretic ;" and he declares that its supposed specific power in 
nephritic and other diseases of the urinary organs, has not the least 
foundation. From the experiments, also, of Dr. Alexander, the 
leaves of Uva ursi seem to possess very little diuretic power, and 
those made by Murray show that they have no material effect upon 
the urinary calculi ; the efficacy they may therefore have in relieving 
the calculous diseases, we are disposed to ascribe to their astringency ; 
and, in confirmation of this opinion, we may cite the observation of 
Dr. Culleri, who, in his chapter on astringents, notices the disserta- 
tion of De Heucher, under the title of Calculus per adstringentia 
pellendus : and though he does not think with this author that as- 
tringents are lithon trip tics ; yet from his own experience, and that 
of others, he believes they often have a powerful effect in relieving 
calculous symptoms ; and in proof of this he refers to the exhibition 
of the Uva ursi. 
The weight of testimony is, however, greatly in favor of its 
remediate powers in disorders of this kind. The account given by 
De Haen of its efficacy in diseases of the urinary organs, is, indeed, 
exceedingly flattering ; and although few other practitioners may 
have been equally successful with it, there is, notwithstanding, suf- 
ficient evidence extant to warrant us in regarding it as a very impor- 
tant remedy in such diseases. De Haen relates some very remark- 
able instances of the successful use of the leaves of this plant in 
calculous and nephritic affections. He says he employed it with 
success in cases of ulceration of the perineum from calculus i;i the 
bladder, and in purulent discharges from the urinary passages. He 
insists, however, that this remedy is wholly ineffectual in cases 
where there is much derangement of the internal urinary organs, 
whether from calculi, puss, or too frequent and long retention of 
urine. He also states, that in several of urinary calculus, this 
remedy afforded complete relief, " although the catheter showed that 
