Medicine, in its common acceptation in the minds of the people, is a substance that cures diseases, but the truth of the matter is, medicine never cured anything.  It is the natural tendency of a majority of diseases to get well within themselves, free from medical aid.  Medicine, properly administered, simply assists nature to remove the cause that obstructs her acting in a normal condition.  Medicine is not a humbug.  The humbug is in its improper administration.  When medicine is properly administered it comes to the sufferer as a gift from God.  Medicine is unjustly judged.  It is not medicine that is at fault, but it is those who give it without the proper knowledge of its effects, and when it is indicated.  Medicine, when it is not properly given, proves an actual poison to the system.  The Indian Materia Medica treats of herbs and vegetation in general.  That is, that part of vegetation which is known by them to have medicinal properties.  They will never injure the system when conformed to according to directions given.  I will now invite your attention to our Materia Medica.
 

Hydrastis Canadensis
Golden Seal.  Orange Root.  Yellow Root.

    These are the various names that are ascribed to this plant by botanists, by medical men, and by those who are familiar with the plant or herb.  It is generally known by the name of Yellow Root.  The fruit it bears is similar to that of a raspberry.  The root is the part that possesses the medicinal properties.  It is used by the Indians in coloring their garments.  It colors them a bright yellow.  Yellow Root, when in combination with indigo, will color goods a fine green.  This root is one of the Indian's favorite remedies; and medical men of the present age recognize it as one of the standard remedies for many pathological conditions or diseases of the human body.  Too much cannot be said of this valuable agent, that has been veiled in darkness to the medical world so long.  I consider it one of the kings of diseases of the mucous membrane.  It is unsurpassed by any known remedy.  Many medical powers and properties have been claimed for this root, but at present its true therapeutical or medical properties are well understood.
    Medical properties and uses. -- It is admitted by all to be a fine tonic.  It acts very gently on the liver, and as an alterative on the mucous membrane.  It is a fine remedy in the treatment of dyspepsia and many other affections requiring a tonic treatment.  It is a diuretic.  When taken, it can, in a few hours, be smelled in the urine.  It is a good blood purifier.  To snuff the powder in small quantities in a great many cases will cure catarrh.  Many a bad case of chronic diarrhoea is said to have been cured by chewing the root as one would chew tobacco.  It is splendid to take the powder and sprinkle in on an old cancer sore or ulcer.  Take the powder and mix with water; this makes a fine gargle for a chronic sore throat, diphtheria, or any ulceration of the mucous membrane.  It should be gargled some five or six times a day.  The fluid extract, diluted one-half with water, and injected four times, is a certain cure for gonorrhoea.  It is unparalleled as an appetizer.  The way it should be prepared so as to constitute a bitters for the stomach and general system, is to take the root and cut it up fine and put in a quart bottle till it is half full, add one pint of alcohol or good whisky, and as much water, let it stand fourteen days, shake well once every day, and at the end of the fourteenth day you have a pure tincture ready for use.  The dose is a tablespoonful or a common swallow before each meal.  Crushed sarsaparilla, gentian root, and anise seed, will prove a great addition to it, acting as a blood purifier, appetizer, tonic and alterative.  If everybody, when first feeling bad, would commence taking this, they would seldom be obliged to suffer with fevers and bilious attacks.  The Indian holds this as sacred to the welfare of his body as the farmer does paint for the protection and preservation of his house.  A watery solution of the powder has been known to cure, by injections, many cases of white and womb troubles.  It is something that is worthy of a place in every doctor's office and citizen's house.
 

Gentiana
Gentian

    The root is the medical part, and upon chewing it gives a very bitter taste.  It is a plant that grows in the mountains of the oriental countries.  The crushed root can be obtained from almost any of our drug stores.  It is found in some parts of the United States, which parts are the Southern and Middle States.
    Medical properties and uses. -- Gentian is a splendid tonic to invigorate the stomach to active digestion, acts very favorably in all cases where there is scrofula and humors in the blood.  It proves a very good substitute for tobacco, for those who are breaking themselves of the habit.  As a tonic, fill a pint-bottle half full of the root, add half alcohol and half water, and after fourteen days standing it is ready for use.  The dose is a teaspoonful before each meal.  This will ward off chills and fever, or ague.  I have known it to break chills where quinine had failed.  Gentian can be truly called a tonic of the first class.
 

Arum Triphyllum
Indian Turnip

    This is a very valuable remedy for hoarseness and loss of voice, and wherever there is a burning sensation and constriction of the throat, and when there is a thin glary discharge from the nose.  It is a plant that grows generally throughout the middle states, and school boys have enough knowledge of its properties in a green state not to bite it when invited by his fellow playmate.  It is a very valuable remedy when properly used.
    It is, in its recent state, a powerful local irritant, and should be handled with care.  The manner in which it should be taken is as follows:
    Take one part of the pulverized turnip dried, and mix it with three parts of pulverized sugar--the sugar being of a granulated or loaf sugar character.  Mix well; let it stand for twelve hours and then stir again, and in twelve hours it is ready for use.  The dose is a pinch as large as a pea or bean every three or four hours for hoarseness, sore throat and ulceration.
 

Cassia Acutifolia
Senna

    Senna is a medicine that has been in use over a thousand years.  It is a safe, harmless, and efficient remedy, and no physician should be without it in his office and practice.  It does good when properly given, and never does harm.  It is found in Oriental or European countries, and is highly valued by all who have used it, and given it a fair test in reference to the therapeutical properties that are ascribed to it by classical men who have made this branch of therapeutics a study.  Some authors claim that to many it is a very unpleasant cathartic; but I have used it in over a thousand cases, and found it a cathartic that gave general satisfaction, and it was appreciated by all who used it above any cathartic they ever took.  I have used it a number of times in cases of constipation in ladies with good results.  I pronounce it a mild and efficient cathartic, cleansing the stomach and intestinal tract, and acting gently on the liver, thus harmlessly answering the place of stronger medicines, that often leave injurious effects behind.  The dose is a teaspoon level full of the powdered senna every three hours until an action is produced on the bowels.  For a child 5 or 6 years old the dose should not be larger than the size of a pea or bean every two or three hours until an action is produced.  Whenever a person's tongue becomes coated the remedy should be immediately taken.  Do as I tell you in this work and you will avoid many a spell of sickness.  It is my full intention, in this work, to state facts plainly with few words, so that my readers will not be wearied with many words to get at facts.  The finest oratory that ever fell from man's lips was from an Indian called Logan.  Every schoolboy at the age of fourteen is familiar with Logan's speech.  It consisted of actual facts stated in few words.  So, in this work, I will simply state useful facts in few words, so they will be plain and easy for all to obtain.
 

Populus Tremuloides
Poplar

    This is a very valuable remedy, and should be used more than it is, and would be if everybody knew of its valuable properties.  It is a plant common to this country, and is best gathered in the fall of the year, and is within the reach of everybody.

    Medical properties and uses. -- There are two kinds of barks, white and yellow; one is as good as the other.  It is a very valuable remedy in all stomach troubles.  It is a fine tonic, and should be used in cases of general debility with feeble digeestion.  It is good for convalescents when the appetite is deficient.  My brother, some few years ago had a severe spell of continued fever.  After the fever broke his convalescence was very slow; he had no appetite, and was swarthy, weak, and melancholy; the smell of victuals was that of disgust rather than a pleaseure.  Our family physician, and a good one, gave him tonics, but without the desired effect.  I chanced to be at home at the time, and my mother being alarmed about his condition, asked me if I could recommend anything in our line of practice that would be good for him, give him an appetite and build him up.  I recommended equal parts of the inner barks of poplar and dogwood and sarsaparilla root, cut up fine and put in a quart bottle until it was half full, then add whisky till full, and take a large tablespoonful, or a common swallow, before each meal.  She did so, he took it, and in four weeks gained fifteen pounds.  It immediately increased his appetite, strengthened his nerves, and restored his complexion to its natural color.  He now lives twenty miles east of Cincinnati, Clermont county, Ohio.  I will give you an Indian formula still better than the above:

    Rattle Root, one part; Prickly Ash Bark, two parts; Poplar Bark, two parts; Sarsaparilla  Root, two parts; Dogwood and Wild Cherry, one part.

    Fill a quart bottle one-half full of the above finely cut up, and add whisky till full.  Dose, from a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful before meals.  This will cure rheumatism, give an appetite, strengthen the nerves, and purify your blood.
 

Macrotys Racemosa
Black Cohosh.  Rattle Root.

    Rattle Root is one of the finest remedies known in the Indian and Eclectic practice.  Its medical powers and actions on the human system are simply wonderful.  I have used it in over two thousand cases in which it was indicated, and it gave myself and the patient's satisfaction.  It grows in most parts of the United States.  It has a long stalk that grows into several branches, and each branch has a long plume-like cluster of little round pods, which are full of seeds.  When the stalk is shaken the seeds will rattle, producing a sound like that of a rattlesnake, from which it takes the name of rattle root.  The root is the medicinal part, and is best gathered during the months of July, August, and September.  The main body of the root should be cut into several pieces carefully, as you will find it full of dirt, and then dried, watching that it does not mold before it dries out.
    Medical properties and uses. -- Without this plant or root the Indian squaw-doctor or midwife would feel that she had lost her king of female remedies.  It is called by the Indians, squaw root.  It is a very active remedy, in its proper administration, on the serous and mucous tissues, and for many cases of rheumatism, especially that of a muscular character.  It acts on the nerves, and quiets nervous excitability.  The Indian squaw doctors have their patients take this remedy two or three months before confinement, and it has that marked effect on them that they are never troubled with false rheumatic pains, hemorrhages, or lengthy labors.  An Indian squaw, when following her tribe, if confined, will stop by the wayside for that day and wait upon herself, and the next day will proceed and overtake her tribe, while but few of our civilized women can get out of bed under the ninth or fourteenth day, and even after that they have to use strict care for a month or six weeks, and even longer.  I know of no remedy that is better to overcome suppressed menstruation , or in words that are understood by all, the checked monthly flow, when it is caused by cold or nervous weakness.  It is one of our very best remedies in a great many womb troubles.  Girls, at the age of twelve, thirteen, or fourteen years, the time they usually enter womanhood, or the time when their monthlies become established, have often serious trouble with irregularity of flows; some flowing to a great extent, some not enough.  In such cases as these this remedy is almost a certain relief, and cures if properly given.  I prepare my tincture in this manner: Take the fine crushed root and fill a pint or quart bottle half full, and add whisky or diluted alcohol until full; keep it well corked, and shake once or twice every day for fourteen days.  In female troubles I give from five to ten drops of the tincture in a teaspoonful of water four times a day.  The largest dose should never exceed thirty drops; the smallest is one.  In the treatment of rheumatism it is always better to combine the tincture of Prickly Ash with it in equal portions.
 

Xanthoxylum Fraxineum
Prickly Ash

    This is a shrub that is in many parts of the United States.  It grows to the height of 10 or 12 feet, and has little short thorns on its twigs like those on the twigs of a small locust shrub.  The Indians use this in connection with Rattle Root.  It is a remedy highly valued by the eclectic profession.
    Medical properties and uses. -- It is a tonic to the general system, alterative and stimulant.  When swallowed into the stomach it creates a warmth like that of ginger, and acts as a gentle stimulant on the skin, causing a slight moisture to appear.  It is one of the best stimulants to the mucous tissues of the human body known to the medical profession.  I have given it with good results in chronic sore throats, and in nearly every mucous difficulty with happy and satisfactory results.  The bark is the part I have always used, in the form of tincture usually, but of late I use nearly all barks in the powdered form.  Peel the bark from the tree in August and September, cut up fine, and fill a bottle one-half full, and add whisky.  Dose from 20 to 40 drops four times a day.
 

Tanacetum Vulgare
Tansy

    Tansy is what we might term a garden herb, and a very useful one as a medicine.  To get it when it has its full strength it should be gathered in the months of July and August .  The tops are the medicinal parts.  They have and emit a powerful odor upon stirring them.  They can be used in the form of a tincture.
    Medical properties and uses. -- Tansy is a good remedy in many forms of dyspepsia.  It relieves morbid irritation of the mucous lining of the stomach, and increases its functional activity, promoting digestion.  The hot tea will often relieve severe cramping, and check cholera morbus.  It is beneficial, in the form of a hot tea, to increase labor pains.  It acts on the kidneys coloring the urine a pale green color, and it can be smelled on the urine.  Everybody knows or heard of tansy bitters.  Make a tincture as I have directed before.  Dose, a tablespoonful three times a day.
 

Symplocarpus Foetidus
Skunk Cabbage

    This is a plant that may be known in particular by its smell, resembling a disturbed skunk.  It is a very common plant, and should have more special medical attention than what it has had.  I have found it a very valuable remedy in several cases.
    Medical properties and uses. -- Skunk Cabbage is a splendid thing for hoarseness and sore throat, taken internally and used as a gargle.  It is good in all cases of consumption where there is nervous irritation of the windpipe and bronchial tubes.  It is good for irritability of the general nervous system.  Dose, from 5 to 15 drops every two or three hours.  The roots are the parts that are to be used.  When you wish to dry them they should be separated into small bunches, for they are in such large clusters that they will mold near the center before they dry.
 

Althea Officinalis
Marsh Mallow

    This plant grows in France, Germany, and some parts of the United States.  It is commonly found in marshy places, and in the region of country where salt springs are found.  It is a remedy the Indians used more in past generations than the present.
    Medical properties and uses. -- This is a very valuable kidney remedy, and good for quieting inflammation and irritation of the various mucous membranes.  It is said to contain near twenty per cent. of mucilage, and at the same time having diuretic properties, makes it a very desirable remedy for all kidney troubles, where the mucous linings are involved with the kidneys in their various diseases.  It is very beneficial in cases of inflammation of the bladder and stomach.  It has been used with good results in cases of hemorrhage, such as bleeding from the kidneys, and from the bowels in cases of flux.  It is best used in the form of a cold tea, as you would prepare slippery elm, drinking a swallow every hour or two.
 

August Flower

    This is a weed that usually grows along creeks, and in sandy and rocky places.  It has a yellow flower that blooms in the month of August , and the leaves and flowers should be gathered during that month.  They have a very important medicinal property, beyond any physician's idea, and no doctor will be convinced of the fact until he has given it a fair trial.
    Medical properties and uses. -- This plant, if not known in any other way, I am sure is known by the name of Dr. Green's August Flower, the great dyspeptic remedy.  I am well acquainted with an old and eminent physician in Felicity, Ohio, formerly from Tennessee, where he practiced for the southern planters.  His name is Dr. Gibson.  He is a noted Eclectic, a gentleman and a scholar, a natural and practical herbalist, and has given the August Flower and its medical properties close and thorough attention, and values it very highly as a remedy for irritation of the mucous membrance of the stomach and bowels, kidneys and bladder.  I knew of one case of a little boy about ten years of age, who had what many physicians would call indigestion.  The boy complained of his stomach and bowels, and everything that he ate passed through him nearly in the same condition that he swallowed it.  The attending physician brought all his knowledge to act on the case, and tried all that in his judgment was calculated to help or relieve the pathological condition.  The remedies simply checked the trouble, but on quitting them it returned as bad as before.  So the patient fell into the hands of Dr. Gibson, of Felicity, Ohio.  He gave his medicine, and the boy quickly recovered.  It was a mystery to me, and I, knowing the doctor to be a gentlemen, and free to impart his valuable knowledge to all that he thought would use it for the good of suffering humanity, asked him what he gave the boy.  He told me he gave him August Flower Pills of his own make, and in two days the boy was well and had natural discharges from his bowels, which was evidence to me that there is wonderful medical virtue in the August Flower, no matter who may ignore it.  The boy's bowels and stomach were in a high state of irritation, and consequently every thing he took in the way of food on that account could not be digested, and ran through him as swallowed.  The August Flower acted as a mucous film to protect and soothe the irritated mucous membrane from the food, which, when the stomach and bowels were in that condition, proved an irritant instead of a strengthener and support.  August Flower is good to overcome irritation of the mucous lining of the stomach and bowels and bladder.  It acts kindly on the kidneys and liver.  Good for dyspepsia and biliousness.
    Take the leaves and tops of the plant, cut up fine and make a tincture.  Dose, a teaspoonful three or four times a day.  Or boil them down in a thick syrup, and take equal parts of gum arabic and flour and make into pills the size of a buck shot.  Dose, from four to six per day, as the case may demand.
 

Quercus Alba
White Oak

    There is no tree better known than the White Oak, nor is there a tree more useful to mankind.  It grows in all parts of the United States.  There are three kinds of Oaks--the red, the white, and the black.  The inner bark is the part used as a medicine, and a very good one it is, too.
    Medical properties and uses. -- The bark is a powerful astringent.  It is said by medical writers to be a mild tonic, but in my experience with it I have failed to discover its tonic properties, if it has any.  It is very useful in diarrhoea and mucous discharges from the bowels.  It will check hemorrhages from the bowels of a passive character.  It makes a splendid wash for old sores and wounds when mattering and not inclined to heal.  It is a good gargle for sore throat, and a good injection for ulceration of the womb and the whites.  The best form to use it in is a strong tea made from the green bark.  Dose, internally for diarrhoea, from a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful every three hours until the bowels are checked, then after each operation.  It will cure bad smelling and sweaty feet by washing them with it.
 

Verbascum Thapsus
Mullein

    This is a very common plant, growing almost everywhere.  The leaves and tops are the medicinal parts, and it is best used in form of a hot tea or syrup.
    Medical properties and uses. -- This remedy is very mild in its action, yet quite certain.  It makes a very valuable cough syrup, quiets nervous excitation, and therefore induces sleep.  For bad colds the hot tea should be drank on going to bed.
 

Petroselinum Sativum
Parsley

    This is a garden plant, and the tops are used in cooking and flavoring different dishes, especially soups and dressing.  The root is a splendid cooling diuretic, and should be given in all kidney troubles in low forms of fever.  I have known it to succeed when more noted remedies failed.  The only way I give it is in the form of a tea made from the green root, to be drank freely.
 

Podophyllin
May Apple

    This plant grows in little armies, and bears a little yellow apple, called a May apple.  The root has a powerful medical property called podophyllin.  It was discovered by John King, M.D., Professor of Obstetrics in the Cincinnati Eclectic Medical Institute, and since its discovery it has become a noted remedy all over the medical world.
    Medical properties and uses. -- This is a powerful hydrogogue cathartic, in large doses producing copious watery discharges from the bowels.  It is a fine remedy when properly given, for torpid liver, or, in other words, liver complaint.  It arouses the general secretions, and when given in large doses it is a powerful emetic as well as cathartic, relieving the stomach of all the bile and mucus that may be in it.  It has in the past been given in entirely too large doses, but at the present it is given properly.  The pills can be procured from all druggists.  The half grains are the best.  Dose, from one to two.
 

Hedeoma Pulegioides
Pennyroyal

    This is a little weed or plant that many are very familiar with.  It grows in patches in woodlands in various parts of the United States.  It is usually found along the edges of woodlands, where it gets good sunlight, and on poor ground knolls and knobs.  From the fact that it is such a common article it is overlooked by a great majority who could use it to a great advantage.
    Medical properties and uses. -- The hot tea of the plant is a very efficient remedy for all cramps and pains and colic.  It is an active sweat producer, or, in medical terms, an active diaphoretic.  Good for colds and cramping.  A few drops of the oil rubbed on the face and hands is a certain safeguard against mosquitoes while sleeping.  Good for pains in the stomach and colic in babies.  I prefer the tea from the plant over and above all other forms and modes of preparation.  It is harmless, and there is no danger of giving too much.
 

Tarxacum Dens Leonis
Dandelion

    This is a plant that should never be dried, from the fact that authors have told us, and we know by experience, that it loses its medical properties when dried, consequently the green root is the part in demand for medicinal virtue.
    Medical properties and uses. -- Dandelion is a laxative to the bowels, yet very mild and certain in its effects.  It is a valuable remedy in constipation, and in dyspepsia where constipation is connected with it.  Dose, of the tincture of the root, from one-half to a teaspoonful three times a day.
 

Nepeta Cataria
Catnip

    This is a very common plant, and useful in its place.  It is good for colds and hoarseness.  It acts on the skin, and therefore is a diaphoretic.  It should be used in the form of a hot tea, in connection with the hot foot bath.  Used in this manner it will be found very beneficial in colds.
 

Phytolacca Decandra
Poke Root

    Poke Root, like dandelion, will lost its virtue in drying.  The dried root is inert and void of its original medicinal properties.  Poke Root is a plant that grows in many parts of the United States.  The young shoots in spring are used for greens, as kale or cabbage sprouts.  The root should be dug in the months of July and August, and the tincture made from it while it is in its green state.  The berries have also an important medical property.
    Medical properties and uses. -- The tincture of Poke Root is one of our finest herbal alteratives, and has been regarded by eclectics as a reliable remedy for the treatment of scrofulous diseases.  I have used it in sore throat or diphtheria with satisfactory results.  It is certainly, or I regard it such in my own judgment, a specific for all glandular troubles, and has no equal in subduing swollen glands when their condition is of a sympathetic character.
    It is almost certain to relieve mammary troubles.  When the mammary glands are swollen and threatened with abscess, if the green root is roasted as you would a sweet potato, and mashed into a poultice and applied to the breast, and the tincture be given internally, an avoidance of the abscess and a cure is almost certain.  I have used it in many cases of rheumatism, in combination with Rattle Root and Prickly Ash, with the best results.  The berries possess, beyond question or doubt, marked alterative properties.  I have known the tincture of the berries to cure the worst of cases of anthrodial or joint rheumatism when many other remedies have failed to produce any effect.
    Mode of preparation. -- Dig the green root in July or August, wash clean, cut in fine pieces, and fill a pint or quart bottle one half full, add diluted or weakened alcohol, shake every day, and in fourteen days you have a pure tincture.  Dose, from three to ten drops three or four times a day.  Prepare the berries the same way, mashing the berries before adding the diluted alcohol.  Dose, teaspoonful four times a day.  Indicated in rheumatism, especially when the person is of a scrofulous nature.
 

Verbena Hastata
Vervain

    This is a very valuable plant.  The root is the part we use in medicine.  It should be dug in July or August.
    Medical properties and uses. -- Vervain is a fine tonic, in small doses, to follow all forms of fever with during convalescence.  In large doses it is an emetic, but should never be taken to that extent.  It is a very valuable bitter tonic.  To prepare it for bitters, fill a bottle half full of finely-chopped root, and then fill with good whisky.  Dose, a teaspoonful three times a day.  The root is best when green.
 

Ulmus Fulva
Slippery Elm

    The inner bark is the part used, and every man, woman and child knows how to use it, and knows that it is good.
    Medical properties and uses. -- It is one of our finest demulcents.  It is soothing to inflamed and irritated mucous membranes, and at the same time it is nutritious and helps to support life.  It is a fine antidote for many poisons, and is used by the Indians for that purpose.  It acts the same as the white of an egg.  It makes a fine poultice for burns and sores.
 

Piper Nigrum
Black Pepper

    Black Pepper is used in cooking by everyone, and it is a remedy I value very much as a safe, certain and reliable gastric stimulant.  I know of no remedy more certain in cholera morbus.  I have been afflicted with the disease many a time, and have used black pepper tea as hot as I could swallow it, and in thirty minutes from the time I commenced taking it I have always got relief.  I pronounce it a specific for cholera morbus, and it is a fine remedy in atonic conditions of the stomach, where digestion is feeble for the want of a proper stimulus.  It is healthful to use in food, and as a medicine there is no better form to use it in than the hot tea.  I prefer it to all other forms in which it can be given.  It is readily absorbed by the stomach, and will relieve cramps quicker than in any other form.  In a case of cholera morbus take a full swallow of the hot tea every five minutes until the stomach is quiet.  A teaspoonful of the pepper will make a pint of tea.
 

Humulus Lupulus
Hops

    This is a plant that grows in the shape of a vine both in Europe and in the United States, along the hedges and old stumps and walls, and is cultivated and grown at the present time for its valuable properties.  It is largely used in the brewing of ale, beer and porter, and is what might be termed one of the standard herbs.  We certainly cannot value this gift of God to man in the line of a natural product too highly.
    Medical properties and uses. -- Lupuline, or hops, is a mild sleep producer, and is quieting to the nervous system in a great many cases.  A man was once cured of dyspepsia by drinking lager beer, and he afterwards found it was the hops in the beer that did the work.  They are valuable in the form of a hot poultice applied to the parts affected with cramps or painful conditions.  No family should be without hops in the house, or where they can readily obtain them.  They will relieve cramps and pains of the womb, when put on the belly in a sack in a hot condition.
 

Trifolium Pratense
Red Clover

    I shall speak briefly on this valuable plant.  Its medical properties, so far as my experience has gone, and the knowledge I have obtained from various authors, are especially adapted to troubles of the respiratory organs, such as irritation of the vocal cords, windpipe, and bronchial tubes.  It is a twin sister to honey; -- taste the blossom, and it has a taste similar.  A tea made of the blossoms is the best form to use it in.
    Medical properties and uses. -- Good for asthma, hoarseness, colds, coughs, and irritation of the general respiratory tract.  Make a strong tea of the blossoms, and take a common swallow every hour or two.  Best to take it hot.  Make a strong syrup of the blossoms, mix it with the juice of roasted onions and strained honey, and you will have a fine cough syrup, good for croup, colds, bad coughs, hoarseness, and all troubles pertaining to the lungs, windpipe, and bronchial tubes.
 

Pulsatilla Pratensis
Pulsatilla

    This is a very important remedy.  It is one of the finest remedies for nervous excitability that we have.  It is good for many other diseases, and should only be handled by physicians.
 

Viburnum Prunifolium
Black Haw

    This has one powerful influence, and that is to counteract abortion or miscarriage.
 

Euonymus Atropurpureus
Wahoo

    Wahoo improves digestion and should be used in combination with other bitter tonics, such as gentian, golden seal, etc.  It is an anti-periodic, and is very useful in counteracting malaria.  It is a fine substitute for quinine, and will answer in the place of it in a great many cases.  Make the tincture as directed with other barks.  To break chills, take a teaspoonful every two hours before time for the chill.
 

Stramonium
Jamestown Weed, or Jimson

    This is a highly important remedy, and every doctor has use for it.  If it were an article that cost as much as quinine everybody would think more of it, but, as it grows as free as the water flows it has been ignored and discredited by many, or to say the least, sadly neglected by the medical profession.
    Medical properties and uses. -- The leaves, saturated in saltpetre, dried, mashed up fine, and mixed with tobacco and smoked, will give almost instant relief to asthma or phthisic, or difficult breathing.  Take the tops and leaves and boil to a thick syrup and mix with mutton tallow.  This forms a fine pile ointment, to use on the parts after each evacuation.  A hot poultice of the leaves will overcome cramps, nervousness, and produce sleep.  It has been used internally with success in delirium tremens, but should only be given by a physician.
 

Solanum Dulcamara
Bitter Sweet

    This is a woody vine that grows throughout the United States and also in the eastern world.  The parts used in medicine are the roots and twigs, which should be collected in the months of August and September.
    Medical properties and uses. -- It is an alterative in particular, at the same time acting as a diuretic and a diaphoretic.  In large doses, like Vervain, it will produce vomiting, but when properly given is a fine remedy for syphilis, all forms of skin diseases, scrofula and glandular swellings.  It acts as a fine blood purifier, causing the organs of excretion to throw off the dross of the blood, and at the same time prompting the organs of digestion to make new and pure natural material for the constant refitting of the house made of flesh and bone.  Dose of the tincture, from a half to a teaspoonful four times a day.
 

Ptelea Trifoliata
Water Ash

    This is a shrub that grows from 8 to 12 feet high in various parts of the United States, and is called by some swamp dogwood, and occupies an honored place in our Materia Medica.
    Medical properties and uses. -- This forms a fine tonic for convalescents from malarial fevers.  It promotes digestion and relieves asthma, and is a fine blood purifier, and if continued for a considerable length of time will permanently cure many obstinate and bad diseases.  It will cure ague, remove swarthy color and make the skin smooth, but is best used in combination with other remedies of a similar character.  The best form to prepare it in is in the form of a tincture; cut the inner bark fine and fill a bottle half full, and add good whisky till full.  Dose of the tincture, a teaspoonful three or four times a day.

 
Silphium Perfoliatum
Indian Cul Plant

    This plant is found growing in rich soil or spots in the western states.  The flower it bears is of a rich yellow color, and many in number, blooming or flowering in the month of August.  The root is the part used in medicine, and should be dug in the month of August, and the tincture made from the green root.
    Medical properties and uses. -- The Indian Cup Plant is a remedy that stimulates the skin to a free sweating, and is a fine tonic and blood purifier.  Take and mash the root fine, make a hot poultice, and apply it several times a day, and it will overcome enlarged spleen or ague cake.  It is a good thing for a torpid liver, and a general debilitated condition.  I have used it with satisfactory results in dry and obstinate coughs.  Prepare the tincture from the green root as usual.  Dose, from a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful three times a day, or as the case may demand.
 

Sambucus Canadensis
Elder

    This is a shrub that I termed in my boyhood days a curse to the farmer and his fences.  It flowers in myriads of little flowers, in a grand cluster, in the month of July, and they mature in  little black berries about the size of coarse squirrel shot, from which elderberry wine is made.  The bark and the flowers are the parts used in medicine.  The old fogy idea of cutting the bark up and down, reversing its medical action, that is, vomiting and purging, is all bosh.  It is all owing to the size of the dose, and not the way the bark is cut.  In large doses it will vomit, and in smaller ones act as a gentle purgative.  Any superstitious reader doubting this will be convinced of the fact by trying it on their own bodies.  We obtain positive facts in reference to the action of medicine in different doses, by trying them on ourselves.  I speak from experience, not book reading.
    Medical properties and uses. -- Take the flowers and make a hot tea, and give it freely, and it will produce sweating; take the same amount and give it cold, and it will run off on the kidneys.  This is the result of different degrees of temperature, and not the way you mash, cut, or gather the flowers.  It, in the form of a cold tea, is a cooling diuretic.  The bark can be given in such doses as will act quite severe on the bowels, and is a very important remedy in the treatment of many cases of dropsy, especially where it is the sequel or result of contagious or epidemic diseases.  The inner bark fried in mutton tallow makes a fine healing salve for all excoriated surfaces, such as burns, scalds, abrasions, bruises, cuts and old sores.  Dose, of the tea of the bark, for constipation, a tablespoonful three or four times a day.  To produce vomiting give three or four swallows of the hot tea every five minutes until sickness or nausea occurs.  It makes a fine salve for dressing flesh wounds on horses.
 

Salix Alba
Willow

    The bark is the part we use.  It is a good tonic, and will counteract periodicity in many mild cases.  I have often broke chills when recently contracted, by taking the strong tea and giving it as hot as it can be swallowed every two hours, commencing eight hours before the time for the chill to come on.  It is an astringent, and will bind up the bowels, consequently, in many cases of diarrhoea, is very beneficial, and will cure it.  Often checks chronic bleeding from the bowels and nose.  It makes a fine poultice for varicose ulcers and sores.  Dose, of the tea, from one-half to an ounce, three or four times a day.
 

Panax Quinquefolium
Ginseng

    This is a well known plant, but has no important or valuable medical properties, and is gathered principally for the eastern trade.  It is a very feeble tonic, fit for boys to chew.
 

Hamamelis Virginica
Witch-Hazel
 
    Witch-hazel grows in many parts of the United States.  The leaves and bark are the parts that are employed for medical purposes.
    Medical properties and uses. -- A tea made of the bark will, in many instances, check hemorrhages of the lungs, stomach and bowels.  It makes a very valuable injection for the whites and ulceration of the womb.  The Indians know of no more efficient and better article with which to poultice scrofulous tumors, felons, white swellings, and old sores, than a poultice of witch hazel bark.  Take oak bark ooze, witch-hazel, and oil of cajaput, and first mix them with flour until you have a thin slush, then mix with mutton tallow, and you have a very fine pile ointment, to be applied three or four times a day; best bathe the parts, before applying, with warm rain water.  Dose of the tea, a wineglassful three or four times a day.  Of the tincture, a teaspoonful the same number of times.
 
 
Viburnum Opulus
Cramp Bark.  High Branberry

    This is a very valuable remedy in its place.  I have used it in hundreds of cases with happy results, and, in fact, in my practice I would be at a loss without it.  It is usually called cramp-bark, from the fact that it is such a powerful anti-spasmodic, and is noted for subduing cramps so readily.  The bark is the part used.
    Medical properties and uses. -- It will overcome cramps of all kinds if the stomach will absorb it and get it fairly into the circulation.  It overcomes the cramped condition by quieting nervous excitation.  It has a special affinity for cramps in the womb during menstruation, and in my practice I employ it for that principally.  Dose of the tincture, from ten to thirty drops three or four times a day.  The hot tea is best for severe cramps.  Dose, a big swallow every three or four hours.
 

Antemaria Margitaceum
White Plantain

    This is said to be an anodyne and astringent, and useful in lung fevers.  I have used it with marked benefit as a poultice on old sores, and dogday sores on boys, that seemed to have no inclination to heal.
 
 
Plantago Major
Plantain

    This is a plant that grows in rich soil, and is common to many yards, and would be used more if its properties were known to everybody.
    Medical properties and uses. -- A tea made from the seeds is a fine diuretic.  A strong syrup of the root mixed with flour, mutton tallow, and oil of cajaput, forms a very good pile ointment.  I have known it to cure when many other noted remedies had failed.  The leaves, cut up fine and well wilted by heat, applied while hot to old sores and ulcers, promotes healthy granulations, and I have seen very bad ulcers heal readily from its effects.
 

Anthemia Nobilis
Chamomile

    Medical properties and uses. -- The hot tea of the chamomile flowers is good for wind colic and cramps of the stomach, or cramping pains during painful menstruation, or pains during the monthly flow.
 

Nymphea Odorata
White Pond Lily

    Medical properties and uses. -- The root contains tannin, therefore is an astringent.  A tea made of the root is a good remedy for diarrhoea.  The cold tea forms a fine astringent injection for gonorrhoea in the second stage.  The mashed root, stewed with bread and milk, forms a valuable poultice to old sores, indolent ulcers, and cuts that won't heal.
 

Fraxinum Acuminata
White Ash

    Medical properties and uses. -- The bark and leaves are the parts used for medicine.  A tea made from the leaves and drank freely has been found very good for the cure of gout.  A tea from the bark will cure some cases of constipation.  It is slightly tonic in its effects and is a valuable remedy, used in combination with other mild herbal tonics, in rheumatism and gout.
 

Artemisia Absenthium
Wormwood

    I shall simply speak of its most important medical property, and that is, its power of   destroying worms.  I value it above all remedies that are noted for the power of expelling worms.  Santonin is made from wormwood, and is the best worm medicine in the world.  It is a powerful stimulant to the brain and nerve centers.  It acts on the optic nerves and makes things look yellow.
    Medical properties and uses. -- It is what I would term strictly a specific for worms.  I have given it to children as much as three hundred times, and in only one case did it fail to expel worms.  A brother homeopath of Augusta, K.Y., gave the child worm medicine afterwards, and the child passed several worms.  I always combine the santonin with senna or jalap.  I will give you the recipe or prescription that will suit a child from three to ten years old.
 
    Jalap, 5 grains; Senna, 10 grains; Santonin, 3 grains.

    Mix and make in 3 powders, and give one every two hours, and in one hour from the last powder follow with oil.  Dissolve each powder in sweetened water.
 

Achillea Millefolium
Yarrow

    I shall speak but briefly on this agent, although a very good one.
    Medical properties and uses. -- It is a diuretic, acting mildly and kindly on the kidneys, similar to buchu.  It is a fine remedy to overcome irritation of the neck of the bladder, urethra, and kidneys.  A dose of the tincture, from ten to sixty drops.
 

Acid (Vinegar)

    This is an excitant of the spittal glands of the mouth, causing the saliva to flow freely when smelled or taken in the mouth.  In proper quantities it is good to whip up the appetite and promote digestion.  It is an article often craved by fever patients, and should always be given to them, for their cravings are of an instinctive character, and, therefore, are the just demands of nature.  I make this declaration from practical experience, and know whereof I speak.
 

Marrubium Vulgare
Hoarhound

    This is a harmless and yet a very important and useful remedy.  It is found growing along creeks and rocky places, and should be gathered in the months of July and August.
    Medical properties and uses. -- In order to get the full medical force of this plant a tea should be made from the green leaf and tops.  It is especially an expectorant and diaphoretic.  In this form I know of no remedy that will break up a cold on the lungs and bronchial tubes quicker than hot tea made from the hoarhound plant.  It readily restores the arrested secretions to their normal standard.  The way it should be used for colds on the lungs is as follows: Make a strong tea of the leaves and tops, sweeten with loaf sugar or honey, and take a hot foot bath, then drink the hot tea and immediately go to bed and cover up warm, and the result will be, in a majority of cases, free expectoration in twelve hours from the time it is taken.
 

Rumex Chrispus
Yellow Dock

    This plant grows in almost all parts of the Union.  It is a remedy highly valued by many physicians, and is a favorite blood purifier with the Indian doctors.  They use it freely in cases of bad blood and eruptions and diseases of the skin with marked success.  I, in my practice, have used it in over one thousand cases of skin diseases with noticeable and good results.  It has, beyond question or doubt, very valuable or alterative properties.  I think more of it, in the treatment of scrofula, than any other one remedy in the vegetable kingdom.  It is a valuable remedy in many cases of dyspepsia where there is a pressing sensation, and a fullness and heavy weight in the stomach--that portion called the pit of the stomach--and the sensation is said by many to feel like a brick in the stomach.  It is good for all catarrhal affections.  It promotes the general action of the entire system.
    Mode of preparation. -- Take the green root, cut up fine and fill with good whisky.  Let it stand fourteen days, and it is then ready for use.  Dose: a tablespoonful two or three times a day.
 

Salvia Officinalis
Sage
 
    This is a very valuable plant, and is grown in thousands of American gardens.  It is used in flavoring meats, such as sausage, bologna, mincemeat and hash.  It is also used as a substitute for store tea, and is a very good one.  Its medical properties are very mild, yet in a great many cases they answer all that is needed, and I have known cases where it has succeeded when more honored remedies have failed.  It is a fine remedy for night sweats, and acts gently and mildly on the skin and kidneys.  The dose is unlimited.  Make a tea of it the same as you would a store tea, and drink freely.  It will cure night sweats and purify the blood.
 

Sanguinaria Canadensis
Blood Root

    This is a plant that is quite common in this country, and nearly everybody knows what blood root is, but few know of its valuable properties.  There is many a valuable plant that grows within our every day reach that would prove a balm to our bodily afflictions; but the great trouble is we are ignorant of their valuable powers and properties.
    Medical properties and uses. -- It is a stimulant to the mucous membranes, and is claimed by many physicians to be a specific for a great many of their diseases.  It is good for bronchitis, and is good for the stomach and bowels where there is an abnormal secretion of mucus.  It is good for coughs and colds in small doses, and is a remedy that should be used by every physician.
    The tincture should be prepared from the recent dried root.  Fill a pint bottle half full of the finely mashed root, and add equal parts of alcohol and water till full.  Dose, from one to seven drops every three or four hours.
 

Scilla Maritima
Squill

    This is a very common remedy and a good one; a remedy that the medical world would be at a loss without.  I have failed to find, in all my experience and travels, a doctor that does not speak highly of this remedy.
    It is something that can be obtained from almost every druggist in the land.  It appears like sliced onions as you buy it from the drug store.  It is better for you to buy it in this form, called the syrup of squill, and inquire of the druggist how it should be taken, from the fact that all preparations are not of the same strength.
    Mode of acetic preparation. -- Take a sufficient quantity of the dried squill to fill a pint bottle half full, then add vinegar till the bottle is full.  Shake well every day, and at the end of fourteen days it is ready for use.  Then make a very thick syrup out of good loaf or granulated sugar, and to one part of squill add three parts of syrup.  Shake well, each time before you use it.  The dose for a grown person is a teaspoonful every two or three hours, in a case of bad colds.  When nausea is experienced, or a desire to vomit, lessen the dose.  For a child, ten or fifteen drops of the syrup every two or three hours.  For croup in children, squill is the secret of all remedies that have proved themselves good.  I will now give you a formula for a croup preparation that is used by almost every docor in our land that leans toward the vegetable theory of medicine.

    Vinegar tincture of Squill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . two ounces.
    Vinegar tincture of Lobelia . . . . . . . . . . . . . two ounces
    Camphorated tincture of Opii . . . . . . . . . . . one drachm.
 
    Dose, in a case of croup, one-half teaspoonful every ten minutes till the patient vomits.  If vomiting should not occur after the third or fourth dose, give a little common baking soda mixed with water.  The patient should be kept warm, and the proprietary medicine I call King of Pain should be freely applied to the throat.
 

Sarsaparilla

    This is a plant that grows in the shape of a vine, clambering stumps and stubs of trees, fences and stone walls, in a majority of districts of the United States.  The root is usually about one quarter of an inch in diameter, and is many feet and yards long, so that when you dig an entire root up without breaking it, you may truly call it a vegetable cord grown by nature, of a bright golden yellow color.  The root is the part that we use, and should be gathered in the months of July and September.  It is better to prepare it immediately after digging, but it will retain its virtues a number of months after digging.  This root is one of our most valuable remedies, and of great value to the medical profession.  Physicians have praised it through every classical publication in the land.  Sarsaparilla is a remedy that is undoubtedly alterative in its action.  It can be taken freely in the form of an infusion or decoction without fear of doing harm.  To make a tincture of it, fill a bottle half full of the finely cut root, add equal parts of water and alcohol, and let stand fourteen days, shake well each day.  Dose, tablespoonful four or five times a day.  In all bad cases of blood diseases and eruptions of the skin, a half pint of the strong tea of the root should be taken in connection with the tincture every day.  Let the patient bathe the whole body twice a week with pure water, rubbing the skin after bathing well with a rough towel.  Do not charge your stomach with nuts, knick knacks, and fat meats, and you will find, inside of four weeks, that sarsaparilla is a blood purifier and alterative.  I saw a case of scrofula caused by bad vaccine virus.  The flesh seemed as though it would fall from the bones, and the physicians that were in attendance gave her up and said she would have to die.  The mother made a strong syrup or tea of sarsaparilla root and made her drink it instead of water.  It did the work.  She got well.
    It has been used by millions, and has been recommended by the same number to be a very valuable remedy, and a remedy that should find a place in every house in the land.
    Medical properties and uses. -- The medical properties of this plant is generally known as an alterative and blood purifier.  It is noted in its blood purifying history.  I have known of a number of cases of blood diseases that the common syrup of sarsaparilla has cured where noted physicians have failed in their attempts with their lauded remedies.  It acts kindly and freely on the kidneys, gently stimulating the sudoriferous glands as well as the sebaceous glands of the skin.  It increases the appetite, and gently counteracts a constipated condition of the bowels.  When taken freely for a considerable length of time it will overcome and cure a majority of our many troublesome skin and scrofulous diseases in general.  When a person takes it freely they will find it will act on the kidneys similar to watermelon, and the sweat from the skin will be of a greasy, waxy nature.  Try it if you don't believe it.
 

Lappa Minor
Burdock

    Burdock is a very common plant of the United States.  The root is the medicinal part.  The root looks some like a parsnip, and has the full medical property about the time the burr ripens.
    Medical properties and uses. -- This is a mild diuretic, cooling to the blood, and is a splendid diuretic for children, where they are troubled with burning or scalding urine, with a frequent desire to pass it.  Take the green root, mash it fine and put it into a pitcher of water, stir well as you would a pitcher of lemonade, let it stand half a day and it is ready for use.  Drink freely instead of water.  In many cases of soreness in the region of the kidneys the free use of this remedy will entirely overcome it.  It acts well where the patient with fever is bothered with high-colored scalding urine.  It is a refrigerant and mild diuretic.
 

Laurus Sassafras
Sassafras

    This is a very fine aromatic bush and tree.  I have seen large fields of the bush no taller than the common Indian cornstalk, and I have seen the bush in its adult age of growth as tall as the gigantic oak.  The bark of the root is the part used in medicine and domestic use.  The Indians of many tribes dig it and use it as a tea.  If it were used by civilization instead of store tea and coffee, the stomach and digestion of civilization would be much better, and the owner more happy and hopeful.
    Medical properties and uses. -- Sassafras is something used by a great many physicians, if for nothing more than merely to make their medicines pleasant and palatable for their patients to take.  It is a blood thinner and purifier.  It acts gently on the kidneys, and can be smelled on the urine when it is freely taken.  Make a tea of it, and drink it either warm or cold at meals, instead of tea or coffee, and during the day instead of water, when you have got bad blood.
 

Lobelia Inflata
Lobelia

    This is a very common remedy, known well to all civilization, therefore it is not necessary for me to dwell on the plant long.  It is of great importance in the treatment of many diseases.  It is perfectly safe for a man to administer who knows its effects.  I have given it in hundreds of cases without fear, with very happy results.  This remedy was discovered by a man by the name of Thompson.  He first fully satisfied himself that it had emetic properties by coaxing his partner, who was mowing with him in the field, to chew the green plant, which he did, and became deadly sick and relaxed, and upon drinking some water he vomited and rapidly recovered from its effects, and felt better aftterwards than he did before.  Thompson was one of the first botanic or herb doctors, and did a great deal for suffering mankind by discovering that herbs had many valuable medical properties, that have since been used by all physicians.
    Medical properties and uses. -- Lobelia is one of our most valuable emetics, and is only fit to be handled by a physician who knows well his business.  It is one of the essentials in the croup syrup that is dealt out by many of our best doctors.  I will here give you a formula:

    Acetic tincture of Lobelia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . one ounce.
    Acetic tincture of Squill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . one ounce.
    Camphorated tincture of Opii. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1/8 ounce.
    Simple Syrup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . four ounces.

    Dose, a teaspoonful every two or three hours in a case of bad cold or cough.  In a case of croup, every five to ten minutes, until vomiting occurs.
 

Juglands Cinerea
Butternut

    The butternut tree grows to the height of from thirty to one hundred feet, and bears a nut oviform in shape, near the size of a small hen's egg.  The inner bark is the part that possesses the medical property, and should be gathered when the sap is going down, or in other words, in the fall of the year.  It is a bark that is truly worthy of notice, from the fact that its medical properties are peculiar from those of others it is classified with.  I am acquainted with a California physician, by the name of Dr. James E. Mure, who appreciated this remedy above all remedies for certain conditions of the system, and those conditions were chronic constipation of the bowels, slight bilious derangements of the stomach, or in other words, slight bilious attacks.  He gave this remedy in a number of cases with good results.  The tincture of butternut bark has been one of my favorites in many cases of bowel troubles of a constipted character.  I should certainly be at a loss without this medicine in my assortment of remedies.
    Medical properties and uses. -- In large doses the butternut is cathartic in its action; and this is a peculiar fact in reference to its cathartic action over and above any other cathartic remedy we have in the world.  I will give it in plain language.  When calomel, may-apple root, colocynth, jalap, senna, gamboge, and such cathartics are given, after the cathartic action constipation usually follows, and sometimes to a sad extent; but this is not the case with butternut.  It is a fine laxative and cathartic, and constipation seldom, if ever, follows its cathartic effects.  Where piles are produced by constipation it is almost a certain cure.  I pronounce it the king of constipation.  For all bilious conditions, and conditions of constipation, take the inner bark of the butternut tree and cut it in fine pieces, and fill a quart bottle full of the pieces, then add equal parts of water and 98 per cent. alcohol, and after fourteen days' standing it is ready for use.  The dose of the tincture is three or four tablespoonfuls a day until the bowels become loose and regulated, then lessen the dose according to the necessity of your case or your condition.
 

Prunus Virginiana
Wild Cherry

    Wild Cherry is a twin sister to pale Peruvian bark, especially when combined with dogwood bark.  I have known the two in many cases to accomplish the same results.  Wild Cherry is a tree that grows all through the middle states, and is a remedy within the reach of almost everybody that needs it.  The inner bark on the south side of the tree is most efficient, from the fact that it has the sunlight to develop it and give it its full growth, sap, and normal condition.  It matters not which way you cut the bark, up or down.  Such ideas as that are simply superstitions, and there is no reality in such nonsense or opinions.  The bark of the wild cherry tree has attracted the attention of many men to investigate its therapeutical properties.  It is so common that everyone can obtain it, and it should have a place on every medical mantelpiece in our land.  Many a coffin has been manufactured from out of the tree, and many a good man saved from his premature coffin by the bark of the tree; so it is evident that wild cherry serves two purposes in this world.
    Medical properties and uses. -- Wild Cherry is one of the most valuable remedies in its medical sphere.  It is a fine tonic.  It calms irritation of the mucous membrane and nervous excitability.  It diminishes the force of cardiactive action.  I knew a man in Franklin township, Clermont County, Ohio, who had an exceeding bad cold, and thought to break it by drinking a quart of hot tea made from the wild cherry bark.  It broke the cold and came near breaking the man's life.  The action of his heart fell to 45 beats per minute, and was very feeble in its character, and the man was completely prostrated and did not feel entirely free from its effects for three or four days.  The man's name is Squire F. M. Myers.  It is a fine remedy for debility of the stomach, where there is irritation of the mucous lining and nervous irritability.  It is a good remedy for fevers, and for consumption where the patient is troubled with night sweats, and is fretful and nervous, and wakeful at nights.  It may be used in several different forms.  To make a tincture, take the inner bark and cut in fine pieces, fill a jug or bottle half full of the pieces and add good whisky or diluted alcohol, let it stand fourteen days and then it is ready for use.  Dose, tablespoonful every three or four hours.  I prefer the cold water preparation.  Take the fresh bark and cut it up fine and soak in cold water twenty-four hours, then you have a fine cold tea of wild cherry bark.  Dose of this, a common swallow every three or four hours.  It is better in all cases of chills and fevers, or in other words, ague, to combine an equal part of dogwood bark with it, and commence twelve hours before the time for the chill, and take a big swallow of the cold tea every two hours till the time for the chill.  I have known this preparation to break hundreds of cases of ague.  Boiling the bark seems to destroy its medical virtue to a very considerable extent, consequently it should never be boiled into a syrup.  It may be used in the powdered form, and is good.  Dose of the powder, what will lay on a silver dime, in water.
 

Cornus Florida
Dogwood

    This is a small tree that grows from 30 to 50 feet in height, in all parts of the United States.  It flowers in the month of May, and farmers in the Middle States and fishermen will tell you, when the dogwood is in bloom then is the time to plant corn and catch fish.  The bark is the medical part of the tree.
    Medical properties and uses. -- Dogwood has similar properties to Peruvian bark, and before the latter came into use it was used in its stead.  It is a tonic and an astringent.  It slightly increases the force and frequency of the action of the heart, and when taken freely produces general warmth of the body.  It is good in low continued forms of fever, where the patient is greatly exhausted.  Prepare as directions for preparing wild cherry bark.  Dose, the same.  Gather the bark from the sunny side of the tree.  The inner bark is the part used.

Iris Versicolor
Blue Flag

    We find that many of our writers describe this as one of our most important plants.  Eclectics have held it in high favor, that is, when they knew it to be in a form in which it retained all of its medical properties.  From the fact that it has been before the public for the past fifteen years in an improper form, it has been ignored by a great many of our physicians.  The dust from the yellow clay bank has more virtue than the articles that have been on the market made from the dried root.  There is no tincture genuine unless made from the green root.

    From green roots virtues fly away,
    And leave their shells like snails in May.
    `Tis not the case with every root,
    Twig, leaf and branch, flower and shoot.

    There's Indian turnip, hard and dried,
    Known by all, both far and wide.
    It still in this state doth retain
    The power that makes the boys refrain.

    Medical properties and uses. -- Blue Flag is a stimulant to the glandular system, consequently a fine remedy for all blood diseases.  It promotes excretion.  I have used it in many cases of blood poisoning in the secondary stage with great satisfaction and with good results.  It has a special affinity for the thyroid gland, that lays just below what is called the Adam's apple of the throat, which, when enlarged, is called goitre.  It is a very valuable remedy in the treatment of scrofula, and all species of glandular and blood diseases The dose of the tincture, prepared as I have before directed, is from 5 to 15 drops four or five times a day.

    Oh!  Iris Versicolor, King David needed you
    To heal his sores and cleanse his blood,
    The Bible says it's true.
    In David's psalms called thirty-eight,
    You'll find it so at any rate.
 

Amygdalus Persica
Peach Tree

    This is a tree that every school boy knows, from the fact that its fruit has tickled his sense of taste to a luscious degree.  The bark of the twigs, and the inner bark of the body, and leaves, all have or contain a very useful remedy.  No family should be without a sack of the leaves in their house.
    Medical properties and uses. -- I prefer the leaves to either of the barks. Peach Tree has a wonderful power in quieting irritation of the stomach and the three sections of the small bowels.  In small doses it is a mild tonic.  I have known the most obstinate cases of vomiting quieted by an infusion of the leaves, or a tea, given in tablespoonful doses every ten or fifteen minutes till the vomiting ceases or stops.  The same can be said of this remedy in the treatment of cholera morbus.  A hot poultice of the leaves or bark should be laid on the pit of the stomach at the same time.  I have seen this accomplish more than any other remedy in such cases.  Take and boil the leaves with bread and milk, and it makes a good poultice for bad cuts and wounds where the inflammation runs too high, and the wound is throbbing with pain.  The tincture of the bark is prepared in the same manner as I have described before.  The dose is from 8 to 10 drops to a half teaspoonful, every two, three or four hours, as the case may demand.  I shall now give you a description of something remarkably strange, that was told by the Rev. R. E. Hera, in the pulpit of the Baptist church in Amelia, Ohio.  It appeared marvelous to me, but I have no right to dispute it.  "There was a man that gave a great deal of attention to the growing of fine peach trees.  He had a very fine peach orchard and one day when walking through it, seeing a very large peach he plucked it and ate it.  In nine days he was taken with hydrophobia and died.  It aroused curiosity, and they took the leaves of the tree and bark and had them examined They then dug the tree up by the roots, and mingled with the roots they found the skeleton of a dog.  Then one of the hired hands remembered of burying a mad dog there.  It was decided that the poison was carried by the roots through the tree into the peach."
 

Inula Helenium
Elecampane

    Elecampane is one of our many harmless, mild tonics.  The root is the medical part of the plant, and by many highly appreciated.  It is mild and slow in its effects, consequently should be continued a long time in order to accomplish the object for which it is taken.
    Medical properties and uses. -- Elecampane is a mild tonic to the mucous linings and to the skin.  It has been found by the Indian doctors to be of benefit in many skin diseases.  It has a special affinity for the bronchial tubes and lungs in general.  It is indicated where there is pain in the breast with considerable expectoration.  It is better used with other remedies of similar proprieties.  I will now give you an Indian formula:

  Elecampane Root . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ½ pound.
  Spikenard Root . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ½ pound.
  Comfrey Root . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ½ pound.

    Mash the roots well, boil in one gallon of water until it is down to a quart, put in a half gallon jug or bottle, add eight ounces of alcohol and a pint and a half of strained honey, or syrup made of sugar.  Dose, a teaspoonful every two hours.
 

Symphitum Officinale
Comfrey Root

    This you can call a garden root as well as a wild one.  It is a fine remedy in its place, and is grown by many in their gardens simply for its medical proprieties.
    Medical properties and uses. -- This remedy is good for bad colds and coughs, and wherever there is irritation of the mucous membrane of the throat and bronchial tubes, and has been used with success in hundreds of cases of bleeding from the bowels, lungs, and womb.  It acts as a soothing paste to the mucous surfaces, and produces a similar taste in the mouth, that is, the green root, to that of the green slippery elm bark.  It is emulcient and soothing.  Dose of the tincture, from 10 to 20 drops every two or three hours.  When there is a tickling cough, a few drops every hour or half hour.  It is best combined with other cough remedies, the recipe for which I will give hereafter.
 

Aralia Racemosa
Spikenard

    This is a remedy that has been used more in the past than now.  It has become scarce in many places, and cannot be obtained as it was years ago.  This remedy has similar properties to valerian, and makes a very nice combination with elecampane, comfrey, and honey or syrup, for coughs, and all lung troubles.
    Medical properties and uses. -- Spikenard is a tonic to a weak, debilitated condition of the nervous system, where the patient is easily startled and has night sweats and a nervous cough.  It should always be used with the above mentioned remedies, or the recipe given on the preceding page.  I have known those three roots, prepared in that way, to cure numbers of cases that were called consumption and given up by their friends to die.  Anybody troubled with a bad cough will do well to try it thoroughly; it can't do harm, and will do good.  To say the least, you are safe in trying it, and give it a fair trial.
 

Polygonum Punctatum
Water Pepper or Smart Weed

    This is a powerful stimulant, and when given in the form of hot tea, will restore the monthlies when suddenly arrested by cold or similar causes.  Make a tea of the leaves and tops and give while hot.  Dose, a tablespoonful every hour or two until sweating occurs, using at the same time the hot foot bath.
 

Pilocarpus Pinnatus
Jaborandi

    Make a tincture out of the leaves.  It is one of the most powerful stimulants to the skin known to the medical world.  It will produce sweating inside of two hours.  Best given in the form of hot tea.  Take the hot tea, 8 ounces, made from one drachm of the pulverized leaves, and give hot every twenty minutes until all taken.  In cases of oedema, or dropsy, it is a specific, relieving the patient in one day's time.
 

Artanthe Elongata
Matico

    The leaves are the part we use.  I shall simply speak of its most important medical power, and that is, its power to check hemorrhages occurring from cuts, the lungs and the bowels.
    Medical properties and uses. -- A cold tea made from the leaves will check hemorrhages from the lungs and bowels, using in connection with it cloths dipped in cold water, applied to the breast and the bowels.  When a small artery or vein is bleeding from the effects of a cut or wound, take the powdered or pulverized leaves and pack the wound with them, tying a string or handkerchief tightly about the limb above the wound.  This modus operandi will check any common or ordinary hemorrhage from wounds.  To make a tea, use it the same as you would store or sage tea, and use it cold.
 

Apocynum Andros
Bitter Root, or Wandering Milk Weed

    This is a weed common to all parts of the Union.  It grows to the height of from three to five feet, with pods like green corn beans.  The stalk is of a dark color, and round.  The root is the medicinal part, and should be dug in the months of August and September.  There are many stalks growing from the same root.  The root is from ten to twenty feet in length and about the thickness of a telegraph wire, and when broken exudes or throws out thick waxy milk of an extreme bitter taste.
    Medical properties and uses. -- In large doses it will cause vomiting, and at the same time act as a cathartiac, but properly given will cure dyspepsia and liver complaint, or torpid liver with constipation.  Take two ounces of the root, put it in a quart of whisky, and after standing fourteen days take from a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful three times a day.
 
 
Eupatorium Perfoliatum
Boneset
 
    This is a very common plant and yet a very useful one.  The flowers and leaves are the parts used in medicine.  They should be gathered in July and August.
    Medical properties and uses. -- The tea made from this plant is a very valuable remedy for breaking up colds.  In large doses it will cause vomiting and stimulate the liver.  In the form of a cold tea, in small doses, it acts as a tonic.  Dose, of the hot tea, two or three ounces; of the cold tea, a tablespoonful every three or four hours.
 

Scutelaria Lateriflora
Scullcap, or Mad-Dog Weed

    This is a plant good for neuralgic convulsions and all spasmodic diseases.  It should be used for the above named diseases in the form of a hot tea, to be drank freely until relief is produced.
 

Borosma Cremata
Buchu

    This is a shrub that is found in Southern Africa, and is a very useful one.  The leaves are the part that we use in making tincture and teas, and ranks as one of our finest herbal remedies.
    Medical properties and uses. -- It is a pleasant aromatic in its odor, tonic in small doses, but is principally used for its diuretic properties.  It is one of our best herbal diuretics, or in other words, that which will act on the kidneys and increase the flow of urine and the solid constituents.  I prefer using it in the form of a tincture or tea made of the leaves.  I have used it in over a thousand cases, and in the majority of them got good results.  Dose, of the hot tea, an ounce every three hours; of the tincture, from one half to a teaspoonful every three or four hours.
 

Arctostaphylos Uva Ursi
Uva Ursi

    This is an evergreen that grows in many parts of the world, and seems to exercise great economy, from the fact that it grows on gravelly ground where nothing else will grow.  The leaves are the part used in making medicine.
    Medical properties and uses. -- This remedy, plant, or shrub, has a marked tonic influence on the general system, and is what we might term an astringent diuretic.  I have used it with the best of results in many troubles, where there was too much urine or water thrown off by the kidneys, called in medicine diabetis insepitus.  I have found it good for chronic irritation of the bladder.  I prefer a tea made from the leaves and drank hot.  Dose, of the hot tea, one ounce every two or three hours till relief is experienced.
 

Quinine
 
    Quinine is made from what is called Peruvian bark, found growing in sections of central and northern South America.  There are three kinds of the bark -- white, yellow, and red.  It is the king of anti-periodics, and a deadly antagonist to malaria in all its forms. It should be handled with care as it often produces permanent injury, improperly given.  I have been careful in giving it, and have used it in over a thousand cases, and only had one case of quininism.  It is best to get some good common sense doctor to prescribe it when thought to be indicated.
    How to take it to break chills.  Commence eight hours before the time for the chill to come on, and take five grains every two hours in water or milk.  Repeat it again the seventh day in three grain doses, the fourteenth day in two grain doses, the twenty-first day in one grain doses.  This will cure any case of ague.
 

Alcohol
Whisky

    This is not a scarce article in civilized countries.  It is an article that can be obtained at any time any where for the sum of ten cents.  The principal ingredient in whisky is alcohol.  Good whisky contains 56 per cent. of alcohol, which is the intoxicating principal.  Alcohol is the result of fermentation of many different articles, such as wheat, rye, corn, grapes, potatoes, rice, apples, berries, sugar, molasses, and many others.  It is one of the best gifts of God to man, and at the same time the one that is the most abused.  It has been so abused by indiscreet men that it has caused, in many parts of our country, the fanatics to raise wars and crusades against it.  Anything great and good in its character meets with bitter persecution.  The best gift that God ever gave to fallen man was Jesus Christ, who was persecuted even unto death.  Galileo advanced a great and true idea in reference to the world turning on its axis, and fool fanatics put him to death.  The world has always been cursed with fanatics, and always will be.  Every man is the architect of his own fortune; he can make a useful man of himself, and be a credit and honor to himself, his neighbor, community, and nation, if he so tries; and, on the other hand, he can kill himself with whisky, arsenic, strychnine, or the common case-knife that he puts the food in his mouth with.  This is the right of his free moral agency.  If he should perchance to kill himself with a case-knife, it would be just as reasonable for some sect of fanatics to institute a crusade against cutlery stores, and try to abolish the manufacture and sale of the case-knife.  Whiskey, they say, sends sixty thousand souls to eternal ruin every year.  They make a mistake.  They send themselves to physical ruin by the abuse and excessive use of the intoxicating article.  I have known men to plunge in cold water to bathe when they were wet with sweat from the hot harvest  field, and the result would be a diseased condition for life.  This is no stigma on water, or on its being cold and pure, but the fault was with the parties who acted so unwisely in violating the laws of nature by plunging into water that would chill their blood so suddenly.
    Many a wife has sent her husband to hell by her own meanness and unkind acts, and then the crime is all charged onto the wicked monster, whisky.  If whisky, the vile impostor, had hands and feet, American fools, instead of Canaanite Jews, would spike them to the cross, and glory in their cowardly feat, as did the low stigmatized Jews when they saw the blood of Jesus Christ trickling down the cross.  Temperance means moderation in all things.  Fools and fanatics are the cinders of the dark ages.
    Alcohol, or whisky, is the great medium pharmacists and druggists use to prepare all, or nearly all of their important tinctures.
    Medical properties and uses. -- Whisky is a powerful stimulant to the heart and arteries and the general nervous forces, and counteracts malaria, hardens the tissues of the lungs, counteracts tuberculosis, or consumption.  Taken properly it diffuses a warmth all over the body, acting on the brain forces so as to make a person feel hopeful, buoyant and ambitious.  I have saved many lives with it in low forms of fever.  I know of no remedy so valuable in the treatment of low forms of fever as whisky.  I remember of one case in particular, that was given up by all.  I and Dr. Gibson gave whisky every hour.  The patient soon became conscious and broke out in a profuse sweat.  The fever was gone and the patient got well.  Yet the abuse of it has wrecked thousands and broke up the happiness of sweet homes, brought thousands to want, rags, and the gutter, damned the brightest and the best intellects, sent many a good man to his grave, wrecked fortunes, blotted out memory, bewildered intellect, and filled houses, jails, prisons and graves with many a human wreck.
    I feel it my duty to speak of this article in the treatment of consumption.  I owe my life to the effect liquor produced on my lungs and general system.  I actually had consumption, and all thought I would die.  I thought it doubtful myself whether I would live.  I had night sweats, hemorrhage of the lungs, expectorated tuberculous matter, so weak that I could not walk fifty yards without it producing bleeding from the lungs, and weighed about 120 pounds.  I counseled with two good physicians, Dr. Gaskins and Dr. Ashburn, of Clermont County, Ohio.  They said whisky was all the hope I had.  I took them at their word, drank it day and night, and ate raw eggs and raw beef, and in three months weighed 145 pounds and could do a hard day's work.  I am well to-day, and can honestly say from the bottom of my heart, that raw beef and eggs and whisky, good air and exercise, will cure consumption when it has not run too long before anything is done.  It should be used very freely, both day and night, to cure consumption.
 

Opium

    I write on this article to apprise or warn people of the fact that it should not be used as much as it is.  It should be used only in extreme cases, such as pain from cramps and neuralgia, wounds, mashed and broken bones, and then should be used in very light doses.  It is a deadly poison in large doses, and mothers do a very foolish act when they give their babes Godfrey's Cordial, Bateman's Drops, or Paragoric.  Children have been killed by their improper use.  All the above preparations are strongly charged with opium, and should only be given by a good physician who understands when they should be used.  Opium locks up the bowels, and causes a person to become yellow, or of a bilious, swarthy color, from the fact that the bowels are locked up and the bile thrown off by the liver is reabsorbed into the blood, when it should escape with the discharge of the bowels.  If long taken it will produce insanity, and destroy the brain and nervous forces, then when the person goes without it, they will go blind, faint and fall.