i8 
Echinacea  Angustifolia. 
(Am.  .lour  Phprm. 
I     January,  1904. 
have  said,  removed  my  prejudice  and  led  me  to  a  much  greater 
toleration  for  other  statements.  And  yet,  the  record  of  the  overly 
famed  Sarsaparilla,  Stillingia,  and  such  drugs,  were  ever  in  mind. 
In  this  connection  it  may  be  stated  that  Dr.  Meyer  was  so  posi- 
tive that  Echinacea  was  a  certain  cure  for  the  bites  of  poisonous 
insects  and  rabid  animals  as  to  lead  him  to  desire  to  give  the  profes- 
sions an  exhibition  of  its  power  in  that  direction.  For  this  purpose 
he  proposed  to  come  to  Cincinnati,  and,  if  we  could  not  get  a  vicious 
rattlesnake  in  this  locality,  to  bring  a  supply  of  serpents  with  him, 
and  then,  in  the  presence  of  selected  medical  authorities,  permit  these 
serpents  to  bite  him  freely,  when  they  were  in  unquestionable  con- 
dition, and  then  to  counteract  the  poison  by  the  use  of  Echinacea, 
internally  and  externally.  He  urged  that  this  be  done,  which  course, 
however,  Professor  King  and  myself  positively  refused  to  sanction. 
Dr.  Meyer,  however,  claimed  that  he  had  been  bitten  repeatedly, 
and  that  there  was  no  danger. 
From  the  dates  given,  the  drug  Echinacea  gradually  crept  into 
notice,  and  now,  after  nearly  twenty  years  have  passed  since  the 
inves  igations  were  instituted,  the  drug  is  becoming  conspicuous 
with  the  profession,  and  I  will  add  that,  in  my  opinion,  it  is  destined 
to  become  more  so. 
Owing  to  the  resemblance  of  the  flower  heads  of  Echinacea 
angustifolia,  "  nigger  head,"  to  Echinacea  purpureum,  "  black 
Sampson,"  and  also  to  several  species  of  plants  related  to  the  sun- 
flower family,  this  drug  is  now,  as  found  upon  the  market,  of  very 
uncertain  quality.  I  have  known  the  root  of  a  plant  not  related  to 
it,  thrown  upon  the  market  under  the  name  Echinacea  angustifolia, 
in  large  quantities,  from  sections  of  the  country  where  Echinacea 
does  not  grow.  Large  amounts  of  so-called  Echinacea  have  been 
sold  in  commerce,  differing  in  every  way  from  the  true  drug,  which 
grows  in  great  abundance  throughout  Kansas,  Oklahoma,  Nebraska, 
and  other  sections  of  the  West  and  Southwest.  Large  amounts  of 
Eryngium  aquaticum  have  been  dug  and  sold  as  Echinacea.  The 
root  may  be  superficially  described  as  follows,  as  contributed  by  me 
to  the  Eclectic  Medical  Journal  for  August,  1897,  to  which  I  will  add 
that  no  attempt  is  made  in  this  description  other  than  to  point  to 
some  of  its  conspicuous  characters: 
Characteristics. — Echinacea  root  has  a  brown  or  brown-red  color. 
It  is  much  wrinkled  longitudinally,  and  the  folds  of  the  shrunken 
