Its Medical Properties and Use.
Every part of this plant is a pure and very strong bitter. It is used in form of tea or tincture and is good for ague and fever. It was used in the yellow fever at Philadelphia with good effect. It may be given even when the fever is on, in such quantities as the stomach will bear. It is not apt to nauseate and is an excellent tonic for the stomach, which improves the appetite and promotes digestion. It is highly recommended by Drs. Barton, Chapman and Elliott, all of whom are physicians of high respectability.
DANDELINE.
Has been much employed in Germany and the United States, and is certainly a valuable remedy in chronic diseases of the liver and the digestive organs generally. It is also a good remedy in diseases of the spleen. It is beneficial in consumption and as a general alterative when combined with sarsaparilla, and invaluable in scrofula. One ounce of the fresh root, or ½ ounce of the dried, and the same quantity of sarsaparilla put into a pitcher and a pint of boiling water poured on it at night, to be used at pleasure next day, so that all is taken before bed time, or as much more as the stomach will bear. This repeated for a month, produces a fine effect on the system, when the blood needs purifying or in cases of chronic affections of the liver.
BLOOD ROOT OR PERCOON ROOT.
Medical Properties and Use.
The blood root is an active emetic and cathartic, which acts finely on the liver. It has been given in pneumonia, catarrh, whooping cough, croup, consumption, rheumatism, jaundice and dropsy of the chest. For rheumatism, it may be given in 2 or 3 grain pills, 3 or 4 times a day. It is an effectual remedy for the yellow water in horses: 3 or 4 ounces of the fresh root may be bruised and a pint of water added, the juice of which should be squeezed out for a drench; 1 or 2 doses will cure. It purges the horse freely. The tincture is often used: 2 ounces of the root to a quart of spirits makes the tincture, ½ an ounce of which is a dose for an adult.
BONESET OR THOROUGHWORT.
Medical Properties and Use.
Thoroughwort is tonic, diaphoretic, and in large doses emetic and purgative. It is good in intermittent fevers to break the chill, if given in large doses in the form of warm tea as the chill comes on; in less doses a little warm it will sweat the patient freely; in large draughts taken cold it acts as a tonic and prevents the return of the chill. It is good in pleurisy as a sweat or in heavy colds; it is also good when made into a syrup for bad coughs, and in some forms of consumption, where the patient is weak and the skin hot and dry. It grows in almost every part of the United States, but mostly in the Western and Southern divisions, and should be gathered in September. Every part of the plant is medicinal, but the leaves and flowers are best. It should always be given in the form of a tea.