Am.  Jour.  Phartu. ) 
January,  1904.  J 
Echinacea  Angustifolia. 
is 
Watson,  John  F.  "  Annals  of  Philadelphia."  Second  Edition. 
Philadelphia,  1844. 
Simpson,  Henry.  ''The  Lives  of  Eminent  Philadelphians  Now 
Deceased."    Philadelphia,  1859. 
HISTORY  OF  ECHINACEA  ANGUSTIFOLIA.1 
By  John  Uri  Li,oyd. 
This  drug,  which  has  slowly  wedged  its  way  into  attention,  is 
persistently  forcing  itself  into  conspicuity.  The  probabilities  are 
that  in  time  to  come,  it  will  be  ardently  sought  and  widely  used, 
for  it  is  not  one  of  the  multitude  that  have  flashed  into  sight,  been 
artfully  pushed,  then  investigated,  found  wanting,  and  next  dropped 
out  of  sight  and  out  of  mind.  It  seems  proper,  then,  that  the  his- 
tory of  this  drug  should  be  recorded  in  an  authoritative  way,  where 
it  can  be  referred  to  in  time  to  come,  and  that  this  record  is  appro- 
priate to  the  section  on  historical  pharmacy  of  our  association 
seems  rational,  and  it  also  seems  consistent  that  the  record  should 
be  made  in  a  familiar  and  discursive  manner,  rather  than  stiff  and 
precise. 
For  sixteen  years  preceding  1 885,  Dr.  H.  C.  F.  Meyers,  of  Pawnee 
City,  Neb.,  prepared  a  secret  remedy,  which  he  called  "  Meyers' 
Blood  Purifier."  He  was  an  enthusiast  in  the  belief  that  this 
remedy  was  a  cure-all  for  any  and  all  diseases  dependent  upon 
depraved  blood.  He  was  an  empiricist,  and  commended  his  blood 
purifier  without  reserve  in  such  affections  as  seemed  in  its  sphere. 
In  1885  the  Doctor  conceived  the  idea  of  enlarging  its  field  of  use- 
fulness, and  at  the  same  time  profiting  by  the  returns  from  his  dis- 
covery. He,  therefore,  wrote  to  Prof.  John  King,  of  Cincinnati,  and 
to  myself,  describing  his  blood  purifier,  stating  that  its  value  de- 
pended upon  a  Western  plant  unknown  to  medicine,  and  that  he 
would  like  to  introduce  the  remedy  to  physicians  generally.  He 
cited  many  cases  where  his  remedy  had  effected  cures  of  rattle- 
snake-bite, depraved  blood  affections,  etc.,  etc.,  stating  that  "  in  more 
than  six  hundred  cases  this  remedy  has  failed  not  once  to  cure. 
It  is  not  a  poison,  the  medicament  acts  on  blood  and  nerve." 
(Extract  from  letter.) 
xRead  at  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  1903,  Historical  Sec- 
tion.    The  specimens  named  in  this  paper  are  in  hand  of  the  Society  Section. 
