Dr. Home, who tried it unsuccessfully in some cases of acute rheumatism, says, it appears to be one of the most powerful sedatives which we have, as in most of the trials it made the pulse remarkably slow, and, in one patient, reduced it 38 beats. And in other cases in which the Rhododendron has been used at Edinburgh, it has been productive of good effects; and, accordingly, it is now introduced into the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia.
The manner of using this plant by the Siberians was, by putting two drams of the dried leaves in an earthen-pot with about ten ounces of boiling-water, keeping it near a boiling heat for a night, and this they took in the morning; and by repeating it three or four times it generally affected a cure. It is said to occasion heat, thirst, a degree of delirium, and a peculiar sensation of the parts affected.— Woodville's Med. Bot. p. 239.
* * * * *
SECT. VIII.—MEDICINAL PLANTS not contained in either of the BRITISH
DISPENSATORIES.
For the use of the Medical Student I selected in the foregoing section such plants as are contained in the Pharmacopoeias of the present day: but there are many mentioned in Woodville's Medical Botany, Lewis's Dispensatory, &c. which, although discarded from the College list, are nevertheless still used by medical practitioners and others.
It would be difficult to give a full history of all the plants that have from time to time been recommended for medical uses. The old writers, as Gerard, Parkinson, Lyte, &c. attributed medical virtues to all the plants which came under their notice; and, on the other hand, as we observed above, the vegetable department of the Pharmacopoeias has from time to time been reduced so much, that, if we had confined ourselves to that alone, we fear our little treatise on this head would, by many persons, be thought defective. The following list is therefore given, as containing what are used, though probably not so much by practitioners in medicine, as by our good housewives in the country, who, without disparagement to medical science, often relieve the distresses of their families and neighbours by the judicious application of drugs of this nature, and many of which are also sold for the same purposes in the London herb-shops.
291. ACANTHUS mollis. SMOOTH BEARS-BREECH. The Leaves.—Are of a soft sweetish taste, and abound with a mucilaginous juice: its virtues do not seem to differ from those of Althea and other mucilaginous plants.
292. ACHILLA Ptarmica. SNEEZEWORT. The Root.—The roots have and acrid smell, and a hot biting taste: chewed, they occasion a plentiful discharge of saliva; and when powdered and snuffed up the nose, provoke sneezing. These are sold at the herb-shops as a substitute for pellitory of Spain.
293. ACHILLEA Ageratum. MAUDLIN. The Leaves and Flowers.—This has a light agreeable smell; and a roughish, somewhat warm and bitterish taste. These qualities point out its use as a mild corroborant; but it has long been a stranger in practice, and is now omitted both by the London and Edinburgh Colleges. It is however in use by the common people.
294. ACHILLEA Millefolium. YARROW. The Leaves.—The leaves have a rough bitterish taste, and a faint aromatic smell. Their virtues are those of a very mild astringent, and as such they stand recommended in haemorrhages both internal and external, diarrhoeas, debility and laxity of the fibres; and likewise in spasmodic hysterical affections.