AmNo?.?i889arm'}    Notes  on  Some  Indigenous  Remedies.  553 
from  the  New  England  States  to  Mississippi  and  Illinois,  and  in  some 
localities  is  quite  common.  Farther  west  it  is  replaced  by  the  very 
prickly  Sol.  rostratum,  and  S.  heterpdoxum,  Dunal,  of  which  the 
former  has  yellow,  and  the  latter  purplish  flowers. 
At  the-  last  meeting  of  the  Georgia  Pharmaceutical  Association 
(Proceedings,  1889,  p.  52)  a  paper  was  read  by  Mr.  H.  E.  Slack,  Jr., 
on  new  remedies  which  are  considered  to  be  of  sufficient  importance 
to  be  admitted  into  the  next  pharmacopoeia.  Of  indigenous  remedies 
the  paper  recommends  the  bark  of  Rhamnus  Purshiana  De  Can- 
dolle,  and  the  rhizome  of  Helonias  dioica,  Pursh,  for  pharmacopoeial 
recognition.  The  former  drug  is  extensively  used  throughout  the 
United  States  and  in  some  parts  of  Europe  as  a  mild  laxative,  similar 
in  its  action  to  frangula  bark. 
The  second  plant  is  now  known  by  its  botanical  name  Chamseli- 
rium  luteum,  Gray,  and  by  its  common  names  starwort,  blazing  star 
and  devil's  bit.  Mr.  Slack  states  that  Dr.  E.  D.  Pitman,  of  La 
Grange,  Ga.,  considers  it  to  be  a  tonic,  vitalizer  of  the  blood  with  a 
special  tendency  to  the  uterine  functions,  a  fine  emmenagogue,  and  a 
corrector  of  all  the  secretions  of  the  glandular  system  ;  and  that  it  is 
given  in  doses  of  ten  grains  three  times  a  day,  or  preferably  in  the 
form  of  tincture,  one  ounce  to  the  pint,  which  would  require  about  2  J 
fluidrachms  per  dose.  The  drug  has  been  popularly  employed  for  a 
long  time;  Porcher  (loo.  cit.)  states  that  the  Indian  women  used  this 
plant  in  preventing  abortion.  The  drug  was  examined  by  Dr.  F.  V. 
Greene  (Am.  Jour.  Phar.,  1870,  p.  250  and  465),  who  ascertained 
the  active  principle  to  be  a  glucoside,  chamselirin,  which  is  a  cardiac 
poison,  possessing  a  depressing  and  paralyzing  effect  upon  the  heart. 
These  researches  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  drug  should  be  used 
with  due  caution. 
At  the  same  meeting  of  the  Georgia  Pharmaceutical  Association  a 
paper  by  J.  P.  Gregory,  of  Atlanta,  was  presented,  treating  of  the 
manufacture  of  fluid  extracts  and  tinctures  from  indigenous  plants, 
and  stating  that  of  the  official  list  of  76  fluid  extracts,  36,  or  nearly 
one-half,  are  made  from  indigenous  plants,  and  that  they  can  be 
profitably  gathered  and  manufactured  in  Georgia.  Among  the 
plants  enumerated  are  the  following  :  Atropa  Belladonna,  Jateorrhiza 
Oalumba,  Rhamnus  Frangula  and  Gentiana  lutea. 
Of  these  exotics,  belladonna  is  the  only  plant,  I  believe,  which  is 
cultivated  in  the  United  States  to  a  limited  extent ;  and  since  none  of 
