^Vlri  js™  }  Indigenous  Drugs.  73 
INDIGENOUS  DRUGS. 
By  C.  Lewis  Diehl. 
To  write  an  article  upon  a  subject  that  has  not  been  completely  in- 
vestigated is,  perhaps,  the  most  unsatisfactory  task  imaginable,  and 
this  appears  to  be  allotted  to  me  in  the  present  paper.  When  I  ac- 
cepted query  28,  for  1868,  I  had  no  idea  of  the  difficulties  to  be  en- 
countered in  its  proper  solution.  Apart  from  those  of  a  purely 
personal  character,  I  have  met  with  the  greatest  difficulties  in  obtain- 
ing answers  to  inquiries  from  parties  who  could,  if  inclined,  have 
given  the  desired  information.  Yet  some  little  information  has  been 
obtained,  which,  however  meagre,  I  propose  to  give  in  the  following  : 
My  sources  of  information  are  various.  In  some  few  instances  I 
have  received  responses  from  those  directly  or  indirectly  engaged  in 
the  collection  of  indigenous  drugs  ;  but  generally  I  have  been  obliged 
to  depend  upon  that  obtainable  from  wholesale  dealers,  to  whom  con- 
signments had  been  made  by  parties  doing  business  with  them. 
It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  our  Louisville  wholesale  druggists  de- 
pend upon  the  New  York  markets  for  their  supplies  of  indigenous 
drugs,  many  of  which  abound  and  frequently  are  collected  in  our  im- 
mediate neighborhood.  Our  retail  dealers  are  supplied  with  limited 
quantities  by  several  gatherers  living  among  the  range  of  hills  in  the 
neighborhood  of  New  Albany,  Ind.,  known  as  "the  Knobs."  For- 
merly there  was  a  lively  trade  in  indigenous  drugs  in  New  Albany  ; 
but  such  is  not  now  the  case,  and  the  drugs  gathered  in  its  neighbor- 
hood find  their  markets  no  farther  than  our  city.  Our  immediate 
neighborhood,  on  the  Kentucky  side,  also  contributes  to  our  supplies 
through  a  few  small  gatherers,  chiefly  Germans  ;  but  taken  altogether, 
our  home  supplies  far  from  meet  the  demand  of  our  retail  trade,  and 
generally  bring  better  prices  than  those  obtained  from  a  distance. 
The  drugs  principally  collected  in  our  neighborhood — of  which  the 
largest  part  among  the  Knobs  near  New  Albany — are  :  Podo'phyllum, 
Leptandra^  Caulophyllum,  Lobelia^  Cimicifuga,  Grehemium,  UlmuSj 
Stillingia^  Xanthoxyhim,  Phytolacca^  Asarum  Canadensis,  Oornus 
Florida,  Panax,  Aralia  nudicaulis,  Aralia  racemosa,  Samhucus, 
Cataria,  Mentha  piperita,  Hedeoma,  kc,  and  limited  quantities  of 
Serpentaria,  Spigelia,  and  Senega.  These  abound  also,  and  are  col- 
lected in  the  counties  of  Shelby,  Monroe,  Brown  and  Morgan  ;  and 
