244 
ON KALMIA LATIFOLIA. 
of eight weeks duration, was cured by a decoction made by 
boiling one ounce of the leaves, in eight ounces of water, 
down to four ounces. Thirty drops were administered six 
times a day, but this quantity produced a vertigo, and the 
dose was afterwards repeated only four times daily. Dr 
Barton was informed that the leaves in powder were used 
by an empiric with success in certain states of fever. Ex- 
ternally applied in the shape of ointment or decoction, they 
have proved useful in various diseases of the skin, as tinea 
capitis, psora and herpes, but caution is necessary in its use 
for this purpose, as the author just quoted states that nervous 
symptoms have resulted from the application of the decoc- 
tion. Br. Bigelow has seen the recently powered leaves 
given in doses of twenty grains without perceptible effect. 
The foregoing is all that I have been able to learn in re- 
gard to the properties of this plant by consulting various 
authors; but believing it possessed of medical virtues, which 
recommended it to more attention than it had yet received 
from the profession, I subjected it to the following experi- 
ments. The leaves were obtained, thoroughly dried and 
powdered. A dose often grains produced no effect; at the 
end of two hours I took forty grains more; but in neither 
case could the least change be perceived from the natural 
state of health. At another time, one ounce of the fresh 
leaves was boiled for a few minutes in a pint of water, and 
set aside in a covered vessel for several hours; the liquid 
was then decanted. A large dose of this preparation had 
no perceptible effect for half an hour; dimness of sight with 
apparent increase in the size of objects, and vertigo then 
came on. Afraid of allowing the effects to proceed too far, 
a teaspoonful of the flower of mustard was mixed in a little 
water and taken, with the effect of evacuating the stomach, 
but sufficient had already entered the circulation to produce 
very alarming symptoms : these were, extreme depression 
of the arterial action, cold extremities and blindness, follow- 
ing each other very rapidly ; but it was remarkable that no 
