GENERAL REMARKS ON MEDICINES.

Here, reader, is our materia medica; wherein you will find a number of harmless, yet efficient agents, that will, in the treatment of disease, fulfil any and every indication to your entire satisfaction. They act efficiently in the restoration of the diseased system to a healthy state, without producing the slightest injury to the animal economy. The Almighty has furnished us, if we did but know it, a healing balm for every malady to which man and the lower animals are subject. Yet how many of these precious gifts are disregarded for the more popular ones of the chemist! Dr. Brown, professor of botany in the Ohio College, says, "Of the twenty or more thousand species of plants recognized and described by botanists, probably not more than one thousand have ever been used in the art of healing; and not more than one fourth of that number even have a place in our materia medica at present. The glorious results, however, attending the researches of those who have preceded us, should inspire us with that confidence and spirit of investigation which will ultimately result in the selection, preparation, and systematic arrangement, of a full, convenient, and efficient materia medica." Unfortunately, the medical fraternity, as well as the farmers, have been accustomed to judge of the power of the remedy by its effects, and not in proportion to its ultimate good. Thus, if a pound of salts be given to a cow, and they produce liquid stools,—in short, "operate well,"—they are styled a good medicine, although they leave the mucous surface of the alimentary canal in a weak, debilitated state, and otherwise impair the health; yet this is a secondary consideration. For, if the symptoms of the present malady, for which the salts were given, shall disappear, nothing is thought of the after consequences. The cow may be constipated for several succeeding days, and finally refuse her food; but who suspects that the salts were the cause of it? Who believes that the abstraction of ninety ounces of blood cut short the life of our beloved Washington? We do, and so do others. We are told, in reference to the treatment of a given case, that "the patient will grow worse before he can get better." What makes him worse? The medicine, surely, and nothing else. Now, if ever symptoms are altered, they should be for the better; and if the medicines recommended in this work (provided, however, they are given with ordinary prudence) ever make an animal worse, then we beg of the reader to avoid them as he would a pest-house. This is not all. If any article in this materia medica, when given, in the manner we recommend, to an animal in perfect health, shall operate so as to derange such animal's health,—in short, act pathologically,—then it does not deserve a place here, and should not be depended on. But such will not be the result. We recommend farmers to select and preserve a few of these herbs for family use; for they are efficient in the cure of many diseases. And as the services of a physician are not always to be had in small country towns, a little experience in the use and application of simple articles to various diseases seems to be absolutely necessary. It was by the aid of a few of these and similar simple remedies, that we were enabled to preserve the health of the passengers of that ill-fated ship, the Anglo-Saxon. The following testimony has never, until the present time, been made public, and we would not now make use of it, were it not that we wish to show that there are men, and women too, that can appreciate our labors:—

"The undersigned, passengers in the Anglo-Saxon from Boston, feeling it a duty they owe to Dr. G. H. Dadd, surgeon of the ship, would here bear testimony to the valuable medical services and advice rendered by him to us, whilst on shipboard; believing his attendance has been conducive of the greatest benefit; at times almost indispensable, not only during the short passage, but also through the trying period subsequent to the wreck through all of which, the coolness and devotion to the best interests of his employers and of the passengers, exhibited by him, deserve at our hands the highest terms of commendation.

Robert Earle,A. M. Earle,
S. C. Ames,Rosalie Pelby,
Benjamin Champney,Ophelia Anderson,
Lewis Jones,Helen C. Dove,
Hamilton G. Wild,Eleanor Teresa McHugh,
W. A. Barnes,John Hills,
Gideon D. Scull,Frances Blenkam,
W. Allan Gay,Harriet Phillips,
Isaac Jenkins,Louisa A. Bigelow.
Prescott Bigelow,

Eastport, May 9, 1847."

Notwithstanding this disaster, Enoch Train, Esq., of Boston, with a liberality which does him credit, appointed us surgeon of the ship Mary Ann, commanded by Captain Albert Brown; thus giving us a second opportunity of proving what we had asserted, viz., that the emigrants might be brought to the United States in better condition, and with less deaths, than had heretofore been done. It must be remembered that about this time the typhus, or ship fever, was making sad havoc amongst all classes of men, and many talented professional men fell victims to the dire malady. We left Liverpool at a sickly season, having on board two hundred persons, and were fortunate enough to land them in this city, all in good health. Several ships which sailed at the same time, bound also to different ports in the United States, lost, on the passage, from ten to twenty persons, although each ship was furnished with a medical attendant. Here, then, is a proof that our agents cure while others fail.