102 
NEW AMERICAN REMEDIES. 
light flocculent precipitate was produced ; sulphuric aciu a aa no marked effect 
at first, but it produced ultimately a dirty yellowish-brown precipitate. No 
very evident effects were produced in the infusion by the addition to it of 
either nitric, acetic, or hydrochloric acids ; nor by tincture of galls ; nor by the 
solutions of ammonia, nitrate of baryta, sulphate of copper, sulphate of soda, 
bichloride of platinum, protochloride of tin, chloride of calcium, sulphate of lime, 
or of that of oxalate of ammonia. 
Upon applying sulphuric acid to the freshly-fractured surface of the bark, it 
became brighter red. The addition of nitric acid in like manner, also reddened the 
surface at the moment of contact. By the application of hydrochloric acid to the 
fractured surface of the bark, the reddish portions became somewhat more evident, 
but the change was not very marked. No very evident effect was produced by 
the application of solution of ammonia to the freshly-fractured surface of the 
bark. 
We have given the reactions of the infusion of wild-cherry bark thus in 
detail, for the purpose of assisting those ignorant of its characteristics, in recog¬ 
nizing and distinguishing it readily from other drugs ; and also from the belief 
that it will be much used in this country by medical practitioners, for the object 
of guiding them in its administration, and combination with other medicines. 
Medicinal Properties and Uses.— The following extracts from American 
writers on materia medica and therapeutics will show the estimation in which 
wild-cherry bark is held in North America. Dr. Wood* thus speaks of its pro¬ 
perties and uses:—“This bark is among the most valuable of our indigenous 
remedies. Uniting with a tonic power the property of calming irritation and 
diminishing nervous excitability, it is admirably adapted to the treatment of 
diseases in which debility of the stomach, or of the system, is united with general 
or local irritation. When largely taken it diminishes the action of the heart, 
an effect ascribable to the hydrocyanic acid. Dr. Eberle found copious draughts 
of the cold infusion, taken several times a day, and continued for nearly two 
weeks, to reduce his pulse from seventy-five to fifty strokes in the minute. The 
remedy is highly useful, and has been much employed in this country in the 
hectic fever of scrofula and consumption. In the general debility which often 
succeeds inflammatory diseases, it is also advantageous ; and it is well adapted 
to many cases of dyspepsia. It has been given successfully in intermittent 
fever, but is much inferior to cinchona.” 
Dr. Leef thus speaks of its value in the treatment of tubercular consumption : 
—“ Of all the tonics that have been recommended for this disease, no one pos¬ 
sesses so many valuable properties as the cherry bark, in the form of cold infusion. 
The amount of hydrocyanic acid developed in the infusion is sufficient to allay, 
in a good degree, the cough and morbid irritability present, while its tonic pro¬ 
perties invigorate the stomach, and give tone to the whole digestive system. As 
an indirect result, the cough is abated and the colliquative sweats greatly lessened, 
while the appetite is improved, and diarrhoea arrested. We do not say that 
these effects will always follow. There may be pathological conditions present 
which preclude all hope of essential benefit from any remedial agencies. But 
under favourable circumstances, before the disease has made great progress, 
and the tubercular deposition become extensive, such effects are often witnessed, 
and may be very confidently anticipated. No other single remedy, indeed, can 
be named which, while it exerts a soothing effect upon the cough, exerts so 
general a tonic influence over all the functions, not only without aggravating, 
but manifestly ameliorating any complications which may appear in the course 
of the malady. Nor can its beneficial effects be attained, to an equal degree, 
* Wood and Bache’s ‘United States Dispensatory,’ 11th edit., p. 628. 
f ‘American Journal of Materia Medica,’ vol. ii. p. 289. 
