20 
NEW AMERICAN REMEDIES. 
that its provisions may become law so far as relates to the compounding of medicines 
and all the operations of pharmacy.” 
Moved by Mr. Thompson, seconded by Mr. Brown, and carried. It was also resolved — 
“ That this Association would respectfully urge upon the General Medical Council that 
the present opportunity of introducing metric weights and measures into the forth¬ 
coming National Pharmaeopceia should be embraced.” 
Moved by Mr. Reynolds, seconded by Mr. R. M. Atkinson. The course adopted by the 
Association with regard to the Decimal Weights and Measures Bill appears to indicate 
the direction of a judicious policy in connection with this subject. Much unthinking 
opposition will doubtless be raised to the general adoption of the measure, and in order 
that a preliminary trial of the system may be made, it would be an immense advantage 
that a special purpose like the compounding of medicines, requiring definiteness and 
accuracy, should be selected. 
ORIGINAL AND EXTRACTED ARTICLES. 
NEW AMERICAN REMEDIES. 
BY PROFESSOR BENTLEY, F.L.S., M.R.C.S. ENG., ETC. 
(Continued from Vol. IV. p. 497.) 
XI. GERANIUM MACULATUM, LINN .—SPOTTED CRANESBILL, 
ALUM-ROOT. 
History. —The rhizome of this plant appears to have been in use as an 
astringent from the earliest periods, by the Indians of North America ; and it is 
still a highly-valued domestic remedy where astringent medicines are required, 
by the present inhabitants of the States of North America. It was noticed, at 
an early period by writers on Materia Medica as a useful remedy in dysentery, 
and was admitted as far back as 1820, into the Primary List of the Materia 
Medica in the United States Pharmacopoeia, in which it is still retained. As a 
remedy in all cases where astringents are necessary, its reputation may be re¬ 
garded as established. 
Synonyms. —This plant is the Geranium maculatum , Linn. Sp. PI. 955 ; 
Mich. FI. Bor. Am. vol. ii. p. 38 ; Willd. Sp. PI. iii. 705 ; Bigelow’s Amer. 
Med. Bot. vol. i. p. 84. tab. 8 ; Barton’s Med. Bot. i. 149. tab. 13 ; Hook. FI. Bor. 
Am. i. p. 115 ; De Cand. Prod. vol. i. p. 642 ; Torr. and Gray’s FI. North 
Amer. vol. i. p. 206 ; and of Gray’s Gen. FI. Amer. Bor. Orient, vol. ii. p. 128. 
It is the Geranium Noveboracense , Amoen. Acad. vol. iv. p. 522; and the Geranium 
batracliioides Americanum maculatum , etc. of Dillenius. The first name is that 
by which it is now universally recognised by botanists.* In common language it 
has been termed Spotted Cranesbill, Crowfoot, Spotted Geranium, Alum-root, etc. 
Etymology.— The generic name, Geranium , is derived from the Greek word 
yepavos , a crane, from a supposed resemblance of the prolonged axis of its fruit 
to the beak of that bird. The origin of the specific name, maculatum , is by no 
means clear. It is true that the rhizomes, leaves, and petals, have each a some¬ 
what spotted character, but in neither case is this peculiarity very evident. The 
common names of Spotted Cranesbill and Spotted Geranium are simply transla¬ 
tions of the generic and specific ones. That of Crowfoot is derived from the 
resemblance its leaves bear to some species of the genus Ranunculus , which is 
commonly called Crowfoot; and that of Alum-Root has been given to indicate 
its astringency. 
Botany. —The genus Geranium is regarded by botanists generally, as the type 
of the order Geraniaceae.f 
* Figures of the plant may be seen, as noticed above, in Bigelow’s ‘American Medical 
Botany,’ vol. i. tab. 8; in Gray’s ‘ Genera of the Plants of the United States,’ vol. ii. u. 128, 
pi. 150; and in ‘ American Journal of Pharmacy,’ vol. iv. p. 89. 
f Lindley’e ‘Vegetable Kingdom/ p. 493; and Bentley’s ‘Manual of Botany,’ p. 611. 
