CHAPTER XVIII.
GOLDEN SEAL, HISTORY, ETC.
The increasing use of Golden Seal in medicine has resulted in a wide demand for information about the plant, its identification, geographical distribution, the conditions under which it grows, methods of collecting and preparing the rhizomes, relations of supply and demand, and the possibilities of its cultivation. This paper with the exception of the part relating to cultivation was prepared (under the direction of Dr. Rodney H. True, Physiologist in Charge of Drug and Medicinal Plant Investigations) by Miss Alice Henkel, Assistant in Drug and Medicinal Plant Investigations; and Mr. G. Fred Klugh, Scientific Assistant in the same office, in charge of Cultural Experiments in the Testing Gardens, furnished the part treating of the cultivation of this plant. In the preparation of this paper, which was undertaken to meet the demand for information relative to Golden Seal, now fast disappearing from our forests, many facts have been obtained from Lloyd's Drugs and Medicines of North America.
Lyster H. Dewey, Acting Botanist.
Office of Botanical Investigations and Experiments,
Washington, D. C, Sept. 7, 1904.
History.
As in the case of many other native medicinal plants, the early settlers learned of the virtues of Golden Seal thru the American Indians, who used the root as a medicine and the yellow juice as a stain for their faces and a dye for their clothing.
The Indians regarded Golden Seal as a specific for sore and inflamed eyes and it was a very popular remedy with pioneers of Ohio and Kentucky for this affliction, as also for sore mouth, the root being chewed for the relief of the last named trouble.
Barton in his "Collection for an Essay towards a Materia Medica of the United States," 1804, speaks of the use of a spiritual infusion of the root of Golden Seal as a tonic bitters in the western part of Pennsylvania and the employment of an infusion of the root in cold water as a wash for inflammation of the eyes.
According to Dr. C. S. Rafinesque, in his Medical Flora in 1829, the Indians also employed the juice or infusion for many "external complaints, as a topic tonic" and that "some Indians employ it as a diuretic stimulant and escharotic, using the powder for blistering and the infusion for the dropsy."
He states further that "internally it is used as a bitter tonic, in infusion or tincture, in disorders of the stomach, the liver," etc.