^"^itZ'^^^s'"^-]  Constituents  and  Properties  of  Potentilla.  1 1 1 
occurs  in  cool,  boggy  localities  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  hemispheres. 
It  is  easily  distinguished  from  the  preceding  and  following  species, 
which  bear  yellow  flowers,  by  its  dark  purple  petals.  The  three  to 
seven  leaflets  are  oblong-lanceolate,  sharply  serrate,  hoary  beneath, 
and  have  a  somewhat  astringent  taste. 
The  species  just  mentioned  have  the  leaves  pinnate  ;  in  the  following 
they  are  palmate,  and  mostly  composed  of  five  leaflets  : 
P.  argentea^  Lin.,  silvery  cinquefoil,  occurs  in  dry  localities  of  the 
old  and  new  world.  The  wedge-oblong  leaflets  are  entire  towards  the 
base,  deeply  incised  and  almost  pinnatifid  near  the  apex,  green  and 
smooth  above,  and  silvery  canescent  beneath  ;  their  taste  is  astringent. 
P.  tor?nentilla^  Sibth.,  tormentil,  a  native  of  Europe,  grows  in 
meadows,  and  has  obovate  or  wedge- lanceolate,  deeply  serrate,  green 
and  somewhat  shining  leaflets,  possessing  an  astringent  taste,  similar 
though  somewhat  weaker  than  the  rhizome. 
P.  reptans^  Lin.,  creeping  cinquefoil,  is  a  European  and  Asiatic  plant, 
growing  in  damp  localities.  Its  thin,  creeping  stems  bear  solitary 
flowers  on  long  peduncles,  and  are  of  a  golden-yellow  color  ;  the  leaf- 
lets are  elliptical  to  oblong-obovate,  sharply  serrate,  bright  green  and 
slightlv  hairy  above,  paler  and  somewhat  pubescent  beneath.  The 
taste  of  the  root  and  herb  is  sweetish  and  astringent.  This  plant  (or 
the  tormentil)  was  probably  the  pentaphyllon  of  the  ancients. 
As  far  as  may  be  judged  from  the  taste,  and  from  the  few  published 
chemical  experiments,  all  the  species  enumerated  before  contain  some 
tannin,  upon  which  the  comparatively  feeble  medicinal  properties  mainly 
depend.  The  indigenous  P.  canadensis^  Lin.,  the  common  cinquefoil, 
or  five-finger,  resembles  the  former  in  taste,  and,  like  them,  may  be 
supposed  to  act  like  a  mild  astringent.    In  the  January  number  of  the 
Charleston  Medical  Journal  and  Review,"  however,  this  plant  is 
highly  recommended  for  other  purposes.  Dr.  Wm.  Hauser,  of  Bar- 
tow, Jefferson  county,  Georgia,  writes  of  it  as  follows  : 
"  It  is  the  best  and  most  powerful  sudorific  I  have  ever  found.  And 
like  all  of  its  class,  it  is,  under  certain  circumstances,  diuretic  also. 
Dr.  Edwin  Le  Rov  Anthony,  son  of  Dr.  Milton  Anthony,  founder  of 
the  Medical  College  of  Georgia,  assured  me,  many  years  ago,  that  he 
had  cured  gonorrhoea  with  it.  But  my  purpose,  in  this  short  article, 
is  to  ask  the  attention  of  the  medical  profession  to  it  in  the  treatment 
of  peritonitis  of  any  kind,  but  especially  puerperal  peritonitis.  In  a 
large  practice  of  more  than  twenty  years,  I  have  never  found  anything, 
