300 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
sam of Tolu, a good stimulant expectorant; and finally, in Co- 
paiba, and Guaiacum, and Sarsaparilla, medicines of peculiar 
and valuable properties, such as could not well be dispensed 
with in the practice of our art, and could not be replaced else- 
where. But none of these substances are found in the United 
States, at least none of them are furnished to commerce by the 
soil of our country. 
It is indeed singular, considering the extent of our territory, 
the diversity of its climate, and the vast number of its vegeta- ' 
ble productions, that so few medicines from this source have 
been admitted into the European catalogues of Materia Medi- 
ca, or even come into general use among our own practition- 
ers. When I have mentioned Lobelia, Sassafras, Seneka, 
Serpentaria, Spigelia, Toxicodendron or Poison Oak, and Ca- 
nada Turpentine, I should be at a loss to add the name of an- 
other medicine, procured exclusively from the territory of the 
United States, or to the north of it, which has been introduced 
to any considerable extent into European practice. It is true 
that there are several medicinal plants common to North Ame- 
rica and the old continent ; such as the Bittersweet, Dande- 
lion, Hop, Iceland Moss, Juniper, Pipsissewa, Thorn-apple, 
and Uva Ursi. But, even with this addition, the catalogue of 
our indigenous medicines recognised abroad is very meagre ; 
and it is a question of some interest, how it happens that so 
great a disproportion exists between the extent of our country 
and its contributions to the general Materia Medica. It is 
not that our native resources in this respect are peculiarly de- 
ficient. On the contrary, as I shall soon have occasion to 
show, the United States are rich in indigenous medicinal pro- 
ducts. But there is a coincidence in properties, real or sup- 
posed, between the old standard medicines and many of those 
of native origin, which has caused them to be applied to the 
same states of disease ; so that the substitution of the latter 
for the former could afford no advantage sufficient to overba- 
lance the influence of habit in practitioners, their natural want 
of confidence in untried means, and the various facilities for 
prescription with which a regular supply of the drug through 
