ON  GELSEMINUM  SEMPERVIRENS. 
199 
in  his  garden,  and  prepare  an  infusion  of  it  for  him  to  drink. 
The  servant  by  mistake  collected  another  root,  and  gave  a  tea  of 
it  to  his  master,  who,  shortly  after  swallowing  some  of  it,  was 
seized  with  a  complete  loss  of  muscular  power,  and  general  pros- 
tration of  the  system ;  unable  to  move  a  limb  or  even  to  raise 
his  eye-lids,  although  he  could  hear  and  was  cognizant  of  circum- 
stances transpiring  around  him,  his  friends  collected,  expecting 
every  minute  to  see  him  breathe  his  last.  After  some  hours,  he 
gradually  recovered  himself,  and  was  astonished  to  find  that  his 
fever  had  left  him.  Ascertaining  from  his  servant  what  plant 
it  was  that  acted  in  this  manner,  he  collected  some  of  it,  and  em- 
ployed it  successfully  on  his  own  plantation,  as  well  as  among 
his  neighbors.  The  success  of  this  article  finally  reached  the 
ears  of  a  physician,  who  prepared  from  it  a  nostrum  called 
«  Electrical  Febrifuge,"  which  was  disguised  with  the  essence  of 
wintergreen." 
Chemical  examination. — Two  ounces  of  the  bruised  root  was 
macerated  in  cold  water  for  twenty-four  hours,  then  placed  in  a 
displacement  apparatus,  and  half  a  pint  of  liquid  obtained.  This 
was  of  a  bright  red  color,  similar  to  Lisbon  wine,  possessing  the 
disagreeable  and  strong  peculiar  odor  of  the  plant. 
To  a  portion  of  the  above  infusion,  a  small  quantity  of  a  solu- 
tion of  tannic  acid  was  added,  drop  by  drop,  which  caused  a 
cloudy  precipitate.  Another  portion  of  the  solution  was  boiled 
for  about  five  minutes,  which  became  cloudy  after  standing. 
Lastly,  a  solution  of  corrosive  sublimate  was  dropped  into  a  fresh 
portion  of  the  infusion,  which  again  caused  a  precipitate.  It  may 
be  noticed  that  the  presence  of  malic,»phosphoric  or  acetic  acids, 
will  prevent  the  last  named  test  from  being  decided ;  this  should 
be  obviated  by  treating  either  with  an  alkali  or  alkaline  carbon- 
ate, (ammonia,  excepted.)  From  the  above,  we  may  conclude 
that  albumen  exists  in  considerable  quantity. 
The  muriated  tincture  of  iron  yielded  a  greenish  precipitate, 
indicating  tannic  or  gallic  acid  ;  but  as  the  solutions  of  gelatin 
and  sulphate  of  the  protoxide  of  iron  produced  no  change,' it  was 
inferred  that  gallic  acid  alone  was  present. 
The  dregs  remaining  in  the  displacement  filter  from  preparing 
the  infusion,  were  next  boiled  in  water  for  about  fifteen  minutes, 
and  allowed  to  cool.    To  the  filtered  decoction,  a  few  drops  of 
