GOSSYPIUM  HERBACEUM. 
407 
germ  is  lost.  The  seed  is  then  ready  for  application.  Corn  is  the 
crop  thought  to  be  most  benefitted  by  them;  merely  a  handful 
of  the  seed  is  dropped  into  each  hill  of  corn,  the  grain  dropped 
on  top,  putrifactive  fermentation  soon  commences,  and  by  the 
heat  as  well  as  the  gases  evolved,  stimulates  the  sprouting  grain. 
The  cotton-seeds  are  by  many  highly  esteemed  as  food  for  cows 
during  the  winter  months.  I  use  them  habitually  for  this  purpose. 
They  are  very  fond  of  them,  and  what  is  a  little  surprising  of  the 
lint  also,  the  latter  they  will  eat  with  avidity  and  in  large  quan- 
tities when  they  have  access  to  it.  Cotton-seed  is  said  to  have 
been  used,  with  marked  beneficial  results,  in  the  treatment  of  in- 
termittents.  Prof.  H.  R.  Frost,  in  the  Charleston  Medical  Jour- 
nal, May,  1850,  states  on  the  authority  of  Dr.  W.  R.  Davis,  of 
Monticello  in  that  State,  that  these  seeds  were  often  used,  and 
with  uniformly  successful  results,  by  a  planter  of  Newberry  Dis- 
trict, who  first  discovered  their  remedial  power.  He  recommends 
a  pint  of  the  seed  in  a  quart  of  water,  boiled  to  a  pint,  and  one 
fourth  to  be  administered  to  the  patient  in  bed.  Notwithstanding 
the  very  high  estimation  in  which  these  remedies  seem  to  have 
been  held  by  the  several  parties  reporting  on  them,  it  would  seem 
they  are  not  thought  worthy  of  general  introduction  by  the  pro- 
fession at  large.  One  reason  for  this  seeming  indifference  may 
be  found  in  the  very  large  doses  of  crude  material  in  the  form  of 
decoction,  necessary  to  produce  the  desired  effect,  such  treatment 
is  not  to  be  expected  to  gain  favor  in  this  age  of  concentrated 
remedies,  attractive  to  the  eye,  and  little  as  may  be  repulsive  to 
the  taste.  Hence  if  it  be  found  that  the  root  and  seed  of  the 
cotton  contain  principles  of  remedial  value,  and  they  are  destined 
to  play  any  conspicuous  part  in  the  treatment  of  disease,  we  must 
look  for  it  in  some  more  active  and  more  inviting  forms  than 
have  been  heretofore  presented. 
In  selecting  this  subject  for  my  thesis,  several  inquiries  sug- 
gested themselves. 
1st.  Does  the  root  or  seed  of  the  cotton  possess  medicinal 
properties  of  any  value  ? 
2d.  If  so,  in  what  proximate  principles  do  these  properties  exist  ? 
3d.    In  what  most  eligible  forms  shall  they  be  exhibited  ? 
4th.  Can  the  root  be  made  available  in  the  arts  for  any  valua- 
ble purpose  ? 
