water. Muriate of tin produced no precipitation from the decoction, though it did from the tincture. Acetate 
of lead, and nitrate of silver, gave large precipitates. Water takes up a larger portion of soluble matter 
than alcohol, and may therefore be considered the best menstruum. Professor Murray, of Gottingen, pre- 
fers the decoction to the infusion for medical purposes. 
Medical Properties and Uses. — The Arbutus Uva-ursi is supposed by Clusius to be the apKTov 
o-TCKpvXri of Galen, celebrated by him as a remedy in haemoptysis, and described as follows ; “ Uva-ursi in 
Ponto nascitur, planta humilis et fruticosa, folio Memcecyli, fructum ferens rubrum, rotundum, gustu 
austerum.” But this description is too imperfect to satisfy us as to the identity of the plant. 
As a diuretic, uva-ursi has been employed for calculous affections, especially when attended by purulent 
discharges. De Haen speaks very favourably of it in such cases ; and as it has a tendency rather to de- 
crease arterial action, than to augment it, it may be exhibited in almost every state of the system, and in 
nearly every variety of diseases. To its great efficacy in some of these affections, Ferrier gives his decided 
testimony. “ I have,” says he, “given this medicine in a considerable number of nephritic affections in very 
moderate doses, and always with manifest advantage. When the pain is very acute, and the pulse quick, I 
begin the cure with bleeding, and a gentle purgative composed of manna, and neutral salts. This purgative 
I repeat twice a week, and on the intermediate days direct the patient to take five grains of the uva-ursi, 
and half a grain of opium, three or four times a day, according to the urgency of the symptoms. This 
method always relieves, and generally effects a cure. Of sixteen patients treated in this manner, I have 
discharged twelve cured. On reckoning the cures, I do not rest on the cessation of a single fit, but re- 
quire a permanent relief from pain. Many of my patients have used this remedy for several months to- 
gether, before this end was attained. The fits became slighter, and at length ceased.” 
Conjoined with soda it is an admirable remedy for catarrhus vesicee and for strangury, arising from 
blisters. It is frequently resorted to for diabetes, and after the febrile symptoms which usually attend that 
disease, have been reduced by copious bleeding, &c. 
It was in consequence of its apparent virtue in counteracting a protracted disease attended with ema- 
ciation, and all the characteristics of hectic fever, that Dr. Bourne, of Oxford, was induced to make trial of 
its efficacy in phthisis pulmonalis, and other affections rendered in some measure analogous to genuine pul- 
monary consumption, by the decided existence of hectic irritation. After a recital of the case above alluded 
to. Dr. Bourne, in his work, minutely details the symptoms and method of treatment in sixteen separate 
cases, which are arranged under four general heads. The first eight are supposed to be instances of “true 
pulmonary consumption in its first stage,” the ninth, tenth, and eleventh of this disorder in a confirmed 
state, attended with purulent expectoration; the two succeeding, some affections of the lungs attended with 
expectoration of pus, but which, nevertheless, were not genuine phthisis ; and the three last were cases of 
hectic, in which the lungs appeared not to be primarily affected, or not at all. In the majority, however, 
of the above cases, the uva-ursi was not had recourse to without auxiliary combinations, and in some in- 
stances its employment was for a time entirely suspended. In the cases which are recited in the Appendix, 
the medicine appears to have received a fairer trial, and to have been attended with more decided effects. 
Extreme candour and moderation pervade the pages of Dr. Bourne’s work ; and although our own expe- 
rience of uva-ursi in pulmonary affections does not authorize an opinion independently of that formed by a 
perusal of this book, Mr. Davie, of Framlingham, Suffolk, has given cases of its decidedly curative powers; 
and there can be little doubt of its being capable of allaying irritability of system ; for, according to ex- 
periments instituted on the pulse by Dr. Mitchell, of Philadelphia, the beats were sometimes, not always, 
slightly increased after taking it, but in every case they soon sunk below the natural standard, and remained 
so for some time. 
Of the powder of the leaves of uva-ursi, from one to two scruples may be given to most patients ; and 
of a decoction, made from half an ounce of the leaves, boiled for ten minutes in a pint of water, and a wine- 
glassful may be taken every hour. 
The fruit of the Arbutus Uredo, taken in too great quantity, is said to be narcotic. 
