NAT. ORDER. — ASCLEPIADEiE. 
95 
in Virginia, as a remedy in certain forms of fever, in pleurisy, and 
other affections. The root is used both in powder and in decoction. 
Sometimes it is used in combination with antimonials." He further 
says that the decoction often induces perspiration when other medi- 
cines have failed to produce this effect; and, on the authority of a 
correspondent, that in the low states of typhus fever, it induced 
perspiration when other sudorifics failed. In a communication 
which I received a short time since, it appears that the Asckpias 
tuberosa is in frequent use by the regular physicians, as a gentle ca- 
thartic in difficult dentition, and as a diaphoretic. 
It may be said with truth, that the Asckpias tuberosa is a cer- 
tain, and of course a useful diaphoretic ; whether it acts in this 
way, as it is said to do, without increasing the force of the circula- 
tion, or augmenting the heat of the body, I am not prepared by any 
extensive use of the plant to answer : at the same time it must be 
confessed that many are the instances where this medicine has pro- 
duced these effects, that the plant has supported its reputed charac- 
ter in this respect. And the multitude, respectability and strength 
of evidences in favor of this very desirable quality, leave no room to 
suppose that the plant has received, so far, any undue encomiums. 
Its expectorant effect in pneumonia and catarrha, is substantiated 
by a multiplicity of corroborative facts, the relation of which is de- 
rived from physicians of undoubted respectability. The late Prof. 
Barton esteemed the Asckpias tuberosa as one of the most important 
of our indigenous medicines ; and he says the powdered root is es- 
carotic. When taken internally, the dose is from twenty to thirty 
grains of the powder. This article may be concluded with the fol- 
lowing quotation from Thatcher's Dispensatory. The extensive ex- 
perience of the gentleman there alluded to, with the plant under 
consideration, is entitled to great attention. 
" The powdered root frequently acts as a mild cathartic, but it 
is particularly valuable for its virtues as an expectorant, diaphoretic 
and febrifuge, and in this respect its efficacy is amply confirmed bv 
