1 1 2  Constituents  and  Properties  of  Potentilla.  {^"'•iiar.?i8^7t™' 
nor  all  other  things  combined,  to  equal  this  simple  plant  in  the  treat- 
ment of  this  exceedingly  painful,  dangerous  and  sometimes  stubborn 
disease.  I  have  never  failed  with  it  once  in  all  this  time,  to  the  best 
of  my  recollection.  A  recent  case  that  gave  much  trouble  and  anx- 
iety to  two  of  my  honored  medical  brethren,  has  brought  it  afresh  to 
my  mind,  though  I  have  not  been  in  practice  myself  for  eight  years. 
My  method  with  it  is  simply  this  :  Make  as  strong  a  decoction  of  the 
plant  (leaves,  vines  and  roots)  as  possible,  and  give  the  patient,  at  any 
stage  of  the  case,  large  draughts  of  the  tea,  as  hot  as  she  can  drink  it^ 
every  half  hour,  or  oftener,  till  she  be  thrown  into  full  perspiration. 
All  pain  and  fever  will  soon  be  gone,  and  then  you  have  the  entire 
mastery  of  the  case." 
Some  years  ago.  Dr.  Richard  Moore,  of  Sumter  District,  S.  C.^ 
called  attention  to  this  plant  as  an  efficient  and  useful  remedy  in  the 
treatment  of  chronic  colds,  threatening  phthisis  ;  he  used  it  in  the  form 
of  decoction."^ 
Both  Dr.  Moore  and  Dr.  Hauser,  name  the  plant  employed  by  them 
Potentilla  reptans.  The  Linnaean  plant  bearing  this  name,  however,  is 
a  native  of  Europe  and  Asia,  and  does  not  occur  in  this  country  ;  it 
is  represented  on  this  continent  by  Potentilla  canadensis^  Lin.,  which  re- 
sembles it,  and  is  a  rather  variable  species,  growing  in  dry  fields  and 
moist  thickets.  P.  sarmentosa^  Wild.,  P.  caroliniana^  Poir.,  P.  simplex^ 
Michaux  and  P.  pum'ila  Pursh,  are  now  regarded  as  mere  varieties  of 
this  species,  which  occurs  from  North  Carolina  to  Mississippi,  and 
northward  throughout  Canada.  The  plant  is,  however,  distinguished 
from  P.  reptans^  by  the  latter  having  many  slender,  nearly  smooth  and 
purplish  stems,  the  leaves  on  longer  petioles,  leaflets  elliptical  to  obo- 
vate,  obtuse,  serrate  and  somewhat  hairy,  the  lateral  pairs  approximate, 
or  united  at  base;  stipules  small  oval-lanceolate,  entire  or  few-toothed; 
petals  yellow,  obcordate.  P.  canadensis  has  even  the  summer  runners 
thicker,  green,  or  occasionally  purplish,  always  silky  hairy  ;  stem-leaves 
on  shorter  petioles  ;  leaflets  obovate  oblong,  rather  acute,  coarsely  ser- 
rate, hairy  ;  stipules  ovate,  acutely  toothed  ;  petals  roundish  obovate, 
entire  or  notched. 
The  botanical  characters,  it  will  be  observed,  are  sufficiently  distinct 
for  the  two  species,  although  their  sensible  properties  are  alike  as  far 
as  odor  aad  taste  are  concerned.    It  is  scarcely  to  be  supposed  that  the 
*  See  "  Resources  of  the  Southern  Fields  and  Forests."  By  Dr.  F.  P.  Porcher,  1869, 
p.  166, 
