i6 
Echinacea  Angus ti folia. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I    January,  1904. 
The  letter-head  of  Dr.  Meyer  heralded  the  remedy  in  conspicu- 
ous type,  as  lollows : 
Office  of 
H.  C.  F.  Meyer,  M.D., 
Manufacturer  and  Proprietor  of 
Meyer's  Blood  Purifier, 
Pawnee  City,  Neb. 
Professor  King  consulted  me  concerning  the  subject,  the  supposi- 
tion being  that,  as  usual,  the  preparation  would  be  found  either  to 
contain  some  well-known  drug  or  to  be  an  exaggeration  of  state- 
ment. However,  as  was  our  custom  with  all  others  concerned  in 
materia  medica  directions,  we  wrote  Dr.  Meyer  to  the  effect  that  if 
his  remedy  was  to  be  introduced  to  the  medical  profession  through 
the  eclectic  school  of  medicine,  according  to  the  inexorable  rule  of 
our  school,  the  botanical  name  of  the  drug  would  necessarily  have 
to  be  made  public.  Neither  of  us  could  concern  ourselves  in  the 
matter  unless  he  was  willing  to  do  this.  Dr.  Meyer  then  forwarded 
Dr.  King  and  myself  specimens  of  the  root,  which  to  me  was  new. 
(See  specimen  "A"  herewith  of  original  root.)  On  May  26,  1886. 
I  wrote  him  that  I  could  not  from  that  root  fragment  determine  the 
matter,  and  that  he  would  have  to  supply  me  with  a  botanical  speci- 
men of  the  plant.  Under  date  of  June  7,  1886,  through  McCullah 
&  Graham,  druggists,  Pawnee  City,  Neb.,  he  sent  me  a  box  of  the 
root,  which,  however,  naturally,  did  not  give  me  the  opportunity 
to  classify  the  plant.  On  writing  him  to  this  effect,  he  next,  Septem- 
ber 28,  1886,  mailed  me  the  whole  plant,  which  Mr.  C.  G.  Lloyd 
identified  as  Echinacea  angustifolia,  or  the  "  nigger  head  "  of  the 
West.  (See  specimen  "  B.")  Owing  to  the  close  relationship 
between  this  plant  and  the  well-known  Echinacea  purpureum,  or 
"black  Sampson,"  long  used  in  domestic  medicine  and  familiar  to 
eclectics  and  herbalists,  I  did  not  seriously  consider  the  drug  as  one 
promising  to  fulfil  Dr.  Meyer's  anticipations.  However,  Dr.  King, 
with  his  usual  thoughtfulness,  consideration  and  care,  proposed  to 
investigate  the  matter,  and,  from  the  drug  forwarded  me  by  Dr. 
Meyer  I  at  once  made  for  Dr.  King  several  specimens  of  liquid 
preparations,  and  then  I  passed  the  subject  from  mind  as  one  among 
a  multitude  of  such  before  me,  destined  to  remain  in  obscurity. 
After  some  months,  Professor  King  in  brmed  me  that  he  was  very 
favorably  impressed  with  the  action  of  the  preparations  made  for  him, 
