110 
Original Communications. 
qualities of the best varieties in very variable degrees, perhaps 
owing to their inferiority to the mode and time of collecting, or 
to the manner of drying and preparing. The decoction is offi- 
cinal in the United States Pharmacopoeia, and is a good mode 
of administering the bark; it is made by boiling 3i of the 
bark in Oi of water for ten minutes and straining while hot. 
Cornus Florida is tonic and astringent, and is thought to 
possess remedial properties closely analogous to those of Per 
ruvian bark, for which it has occasionally been substituted 
with advantage. It has long been employed for the cure of 
intermittents, and still holds a favourite place in the list of 
domestic remedies. According to Dr. Walker it was found, 
when taken internally, to augment the force and frequency 
of the pulse, and increase the heat of the body. The decoction 
is the preparation so much in use among the country people. 
Dr. Barton also states that a decoction of it has been found 
very useful in a malignant fever called the yellow water, 
Canada distemper &c. which has been found very fatal among 
horses. The ripe fruit or berries if infused in spirit or brandy, 
are said to make a very agreeable bitter. 
The Indians employ an infusion of the flowers in intermit-? 
tents. The same infusion has been much recommended by 
some in flatulent colic. 
The bark, though generally kept in the shops, cannot be 
said to rank among the indigenous remedies in common use, 
being now principally in the hands of domestic practitioners. 
The length of time this article has been in use, we might 
suppose, would induce the expectation of a more satisfactory 
analysis than any with which we are acquainted. 
It is nevertheless asserted by some individuals, that they 
have obtained a crystalline substance from this bark, and they 
seem content with the mere fact of having isolated what they 
consider the active principle, without ever making known its 
chemical properties, or publishing for the benefit of science, 
the process which they followed, as all real inquirers after 
scientific truths would have held themselves bound to do; 
and as such we cannot take for granted any thing, and of 
course, do not feel disposed to give credit to that which has not 
