OCR Text |
Show 99 Lom sively bitter, and their bitterness is extracted by infusion. They are said to be sometimes used in brewing ale, and that one ounce will go as far as half a pound of hops. a SS Ge ~~ ae rans ty oa WATER-TREFOIL, OR BUCKBEAN. MEDICAL VIRTUES. ae A drachm of them, in powder, purges and vomits. In infu. ry sion or extract they have been recommendedin intermittents, in several cachectic and cutaneous diseases. The dose of the extract is from ten to twentygrains. This valuable native merits more attention than is commonly md given to it. It seems as if Providence had kindly placed the re- medy in those situations most productive of agues*, and that we have no reason to cross the ocean for the cure of intermit- tents. A cheap remedy is at hand. The blackness manifested by adding a solutionof green vitriol to the juice, or to a strong infusion of the leaves of buckbean, is a sufficient test. of its astringency. The great Boerhaave says, ‘‘ Contra tertianam et quartanam febrim valet ;”—-‘‘ It overcomes the tertian and quar- WATER TREFOI Tr tan ague.” OR M$ BUCK BEAN. MENYANTHES TRIFOLIATA. il | Class V. Pentandria. Bssenr, Gen, Caar. Order Y. Monogynia. Corolla hirsute: Stigma two-cleft: Capsule one- celled. Spec. Cnar, Haller mentions the same fact, ‘‘ that intermittents yield to it:”? and in the last war the Germans made useof this remedy, with almost unvaried success, instead of bark. Ray mentions a similar event: ‘‘ Herba hac Germanorum amara, nuperis annis, in magna existimatione esse coepit. Nonnulli ad morbumarticularem; alii ad scorbuticos affectus, ad febres intermittentes, et catarrhos eam commendant, et in hydropicis af. fepibas valde profuisse existimant.” Dom, Tancred Robinson, R By tS As to cachectic disease, that is disease and emaciation, debi- Leaves ternate. lity of the prime vie, in these cases bitters are known to be of So Service. DESCRIPTION. Tats beautiful plant is common in bogs. The flower-stalks shoot out often twelve inches in height, bearing many elegant flowers in a spike. These are white, but commonly rose-co- loured on the outside, and in the inside so finely fringed as to produce an extraordinary appearance. Its leaves are three together, resembling our garden bean, or the trefoil, whence its name. But the cure of the rot in sheep from this herb may have induced this opinion: ‘ Dom. Tanc. Robinsonse sepius observasse ait oves tabidas, in paludes hac herba abundantes, compulsas, ejus esu sanitati restitutas.”—R. Hist. Boerhaave Says: ** Folia ejus decocta conveniunt in cachexia.” In scorbutic affections bitters have wonderful efficacy ; and Sim. Paulli P< gives several instances of its extraordinaryefficacy, , HISTORY. This perennial plant is very common in marshy situations, and is one of the most beautiful of our native flowers. It flowers in June and July. ‘The leaves grow bythrees on footstalks. They are exces * ae 2 s ° . . . : It was a curious fact, noticed by Linnzus, that marsh miasmata are the© cause cause of agues, ar wow and tse . . : . that lime being employed as manure in such situaons overcame these miasmata, and the ague disappeared. J have myself traced this curious fact in several parts of England, H 2 |