[143]. Molina, in his history of Chili, speaking of the Potatoe, says, “It is indeed found in all the fields of this country, but the plants that grow wild, called by the Indians Maglia, produce only very small roots of a bitter taste.” Dr. Baldwin also found the wild parent of the potatoe plant at Monte Video, and Mr. Lambert informs us that this statement has been confirmed by Captain Bowles, who has not long since returned from the South American station; he says, “it is a common weed in the gardens, bearing small tubers, but too bitter for use.” Royal Institution Journal, No. XIX.
[144]. Discourses on the Elements of Therapeutics and Materia Medica, by N. Chapman, M. D. Philadelphia, 1819.
[145]. Thus it has been found by experiments, that the Menyanthes Trifoliata, (the Water Trefoil,) which on account of its bitterness has been used as a substitute for Hops, is a cure for the rot in sheep, when given in doses of a drachm of the powdered leaves; and Dr. William Bulleyn, the cotemporary of Turner, the father of English Botany, observes in his work, entitled “The Bulwark of Defence,” that Tormentil, in pastures, prevents the rot in sheep.
[146]. αρωμα, which is compounded of αρι, very, and οδμη, or οσμη, smell.
[147]. The origin of this term is derived from the superstitious custom of curing such complaints by incantations in verse (Carmina), or perhaps it may be understood metaphorically as expressive of the instantaneous relief which these medicines are capable of affording; operating, as it were, like a charm.
[148]. When tannin is present in grasses, as Sir H. Davy found in that of aftermath crops, it is voided in the excrement by animals who feed upon it, together with the bitter extractive, saline matter, and woody fibre. (Elem. of Agricult. Chem. Appendix, p. lxi.) We may therefore infer by analogy that it does not enter into the circulation.
[149]. Various combinations, into which different metallic salts have generally entered as ingredients, have at different periods been extolled for their efficacy as Styptics: Helvetius published an account of a preparation composed of the filings of iron and tartar, mixed to a proper consistence with French brandy, and it was long used in France, Germany, and Holland, under the name of Helvetius’s Styptic.
Eaton’s Styptic. After the styptic of Helvetius had been discarded from the Continent, it was brought into this country, and for a long time continued to be employed with confidence, under the new title of Eaton’s Styptic. It is now made in several different modes, and consists chiefly of an alcoholic solution of sulphate of iron, with some unimportant additions.
[150]. This theory, however, did not originate with Dr. Majendie, for Chiarac, a French Physician of the 17th century, drew the same conclusion from an experimental enquiry (Histoire de l’Academie Royale des Sciences, p. 12. An. 1700.)
[151]. Upon the very same principle, a person may die from suffocation, in consequence of an injury in the brain; the respiratory muscles being unable to sustain the function of breathing, for want of a due supply of nervous influence. This happens in cases of Apoplexy, and in poisoning by Narcotics.