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Preface
There are probably few persons engaged in teaching Botany to medical students in this country, who have not experienced great inconvenience from the want of some work in which correct systematical descriptions of medicinal plants are to be found, and which is cheap enough to be used as a class book. By the author, at least, this has been so strongly felt, that he would long since have made the present attempt at supplying the deficiency had he been a medical man, or had he not hoped in each succeeding year that such a work would have appeared from the pen of some writer of reputation, both as a botanist and pharmacologist. This expectation has not been realised; the necessity that students should
have access to a botanical account of the plants which furnish the substances used medicinally in different parts of the world, daily becomes more urgent; and hence the work now presented to the public makes its appearance.
Under existing arrangements it is chiefly from systematical works treating of the British Flora, that the student of Botany derives his acquaintance with species; and as but a small number of the plants found wild in this country are either officinal, or of much medical value, he is practically excluded from any acquaintance with those important exotic species which it is most desirable for him so to study as to recognise them when he sees them. The student therefore who is really anxious to study Botany for those great purposes which render it so indispensable a branch of medical science, has been obliged to remain satisfied with such general knowledge as he can obtain from books like the author's Natural System of Botany. His examination in practical Botany becomes alarming to him because he is necessarily ill-prepared to meet it; and
when passed, all but the theory of the science is too apt to quit his memory, from the want of definite points upon which his attention can be permanently fixed.
But there is another reason which has induced the author to take up the investigation of medical plants. All persons at all conversant with Materia Medica, are aware how conflicting are the statements found in books, and made in conversation, respecting the sources from which medicinal plants, often of the commonest kind, are derived.
For instance, one writer says that Cubebs are obtained from Sierra Leone, where Piper Cubeba does not grow: another refers the origin of this pepper, in Bourbon, to Piper caudatum, which is a Brazilian, not an African species; a third asserts that Cubebs come from Java, and are the fruit of Piper caninum, not of P. Cubeba. Cascarilla bark is assigned by one writer to Croton Cascarilla, by another to C. pseudo-china, and by a third to C. Eleuteria. Rhubarb has been said by different writers to be the root of Rheum palmatum, R. undulatum, and R. Emodi; and in all these cases the assertion has been made with equal confidence. According to one author Sarsaparilla is the root of Smilax officinalis; to another, of Smilax medica; to a third, of Smilax aspera; to others, of a species called S. Sarsaparilla. I have even heard it stated with great confidence, that of the few kinds of vegetable drugs admitted into the last edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the College of Physicians, twelve are referred to plants which certainly do not produce them; and that twenty-six others have been assigned to their sources with more or less inaccuracy. As the greater part of these differences of opinion can be more readily settled by Botanical investigation than by Pharmaceutical evidence, the author trusts that it will not be thought presumptuous in him to have made the attempt, although he is not a medical man.
In executing his task he has been much embarrassed to
determine within what limits to confine it. To be guided
by the last edition of the London Pharmacopoeia, or by
any other work of the same description, would have manifestly
been inexpedient, because all such books are from
their very nature circumscribed, and confined in their
application to some particular place. To have thus limited
the present work, would have entirely defeated one of the
first objects set before himself by the author in the execution
of it the indication of what remedial agents are
employed in other countries, but not yet introduced into
English practice. No one will be bold enough to assert
that the physician already possesses the most powerful
agents produced by the vegetable kingdom; for every year
is bringing some new plant into notice for its energy,
while others are excluded because of their inertness. In
tropical countries, where a fervid sun, a humid air, and
a teeming soil give extraordinary energy to vegetable
life, the natives of those regions often recognise the
existence of potent herbs unknown to the European practitioner.
No doubt such virtues are often as fabulous, and
imaginary, as those of indigenous plants long since rejected
by the sagacity of European practice. But we are not
altogether to despise the experience of nations less advanced
in knowledge than ourselves, or to suppose because
they may ascribe imaginary virtues to some of their officinal
substances, as has been abundantly done by ourselves in
former days, that therefore the remedial properties of their
plants are not worth a serious investigation; or that their
medical knowledge is beneath our notice because they are
unacquainted with the terms of modern science. It is not
much above twenty years since an English officer in India
was cured of gonorrhoea by his native servant, after the
skill of regular European practitioners had been exhausted:
the remedy employed was Cubebs, the importance of which
was previously unknown, and the rationale of whose action
is to this day beyond the discovery of physiologists. It
is of undoubted value in urethral catarrh: and who shall
say that there are not hundreds of equally powerful remedies
still remaining to be discovered. Look to Hemidesmus
indicus, the source of Indian Sarsaparilla, the
most active medicine of that name now known to the
English physician, although excluded from the Pharmacopoeia;
to Chloranthus officinalis, unrivalled in Java for
its aromatic properties and powerful stimulating effects; to Soymida febrifuga, Galipea officinalis, and Cedrela Toona,
which, at least, rival the Jesuit's bark in their influence over
the most dangerous fevers; to Erythroxylon Coca one of the
most active stimulants of the nervous system; or, finally,
consider the accounts we have of the effects of Jamaica
Dogwood, Piscidia Erythrina, which, if there is any truth
in medical reports, must be a narcotic superior to opium
for many purposes; and it must be sufficiently apparent
to all unprejudiced minds, that the resources of the vegetable
kingdom, far from being exhausted, have hardly yet
been called into existence. It is presumptuous for the
theorist to assert that he already possesses a remedy
" for
all the maladies that flesh is heir to;" it is mere idleness
in the routine practitioner, carried away by the attraction
of specious generalities, to fancy that one tonic is as good
as another tonic, or one purgative as another purgative.
In reality the true cause of the different actions of medicines
upon the human body is admitted by the highest authorities
to be wholly unknown; and surely this is in itself
the best of all reasons why we should not assume that we
already possess against disease all the remedies which
nature affords; on the contrary, it should stimulate us to
reiterated enquiries into the peculiar action of new remedial
agents.
The medical student rarely knows, at the time when he
is acquiring his professional education, what his after destiny
will be. A large proportion of the young men who
frequent the class-rooms are scattered to all the corners of
the earth; they are perpetually liable to be cut off from
supplies of the drugs of the Pharmacopoeia, and then are
driven upon their own resources; and they find the medicines
which are powerful in Europe, comparatively inactive in
other climates. The heat of a country, its humidity, particular
localities, food, and the social habits of a people will
predispose them to varieties of disease for which the drugs
of Europe offer no sufficient remedy, and will render that
which is relied '
upon in one country unworthy of dependence
in another. Thus the Cinchona bark of Peru,
important as it is in Europe, is, we are told, rejected by
the people among whom it grows, because it is found too
stimulating and heating for their excitable constitutions.
And speaking of Ipecacuanha Dr. Von Martius, who so
carefully examined practically the Materia Medica of
Brazil, asserts " nullum est dubium quin Emetica in terris
zonae fervidae subjectis effectus producent multo magis
salutares quam in regionibus frigidioribus."
This last observation seems to indicate, that if emetic
plants are so much more common in hot than cold countries;
it is because there is so much greater a necessity for them.
The late Mr. Burnett, and many other persons, have asserted
that every country spontaneously furnishes remedies
for those maladies which the people of the soil are naturally
subject to, and that the foreign drugs imported into
the markets of Europe would soon be superseded to a
great extent, if the properties of European plants were
carefully examined. It is contended, in illustration of this
opinion, that Salicine, obtained from our native Willows
is equal in energy to Quinine, and that it is formed by
Providence in low marshy places, exactly where remittent
and intermittent fevers are experienced most frequently,
and with the greatest severity. It is not for the author to
offer an opinion upon a point of this sort; his business
here is only with facts, or what are believed to be facts. It
is, however, deserving of notice, that if England is already
found to yield species of such powerful action as Hellebore,
Hemlock, Henbane, Belladonna, Stramonium, Foxglove,
Willow bark, Holly leaves, Spurge Laurel, Centaury, Colchicum,
Bryony, Ergot, and many more, it becomes
probable that other powerful agents still remain to be
discovered in this country. Such a subject of investigation
is by no means unimportant, when it is considered
how wretchedly inadequate in too many cases is the remuneration
of medical men, and how much the practitioner
would often be relieved, if his expenses could be diminished
by the substitution of domestic remedies, to be had for the
trouble of getting them, in place of exotic drugs which
are not only costly, but often so much adulterated as to be
unfit for use. When we consider the quality of much of
the Scammony, Sarsaparilla, Senna, and even Rhubarb
that are sold in the shops, it is surely not extravagant to
expect that they should often be advantageously rejected
for some of the plants which grow almost at our doors.
Our marshes are overrun with the Iris Pseudacorus, an
active purgative and emetic; Ranunculus Flammula
another common plant is described by Dr. Withering, the
introducer of Digitalis into practice, as the best of all
known emetics; and the common Lilac, which, although
not a native, is to be found in every garden, has fruit
which in its unripe state is singularly bitter, and yields
an extract spoken of as a remarkably good tonic and
febrifuge.
They were considerations of this kind which decided
the author to include in his work all the plants whether
indigenous or exotic, and whether officinal or not, the
properties of which were sufficiently well attested to deserve
particular notice. Those plants have however been
omitted, whatever their reputation may have been, against
the efficiency of which medical opinion has been distinctly
and generally expressed. Such exceptions as may be found
to this rule, have usually been made for purposes connected
with the lecture-room, or for the sake of calling
attention to plants whose properties seem to deserve
further investigation.
It by no means follows that plants are inert because
medical men have reported unfavourably of their action.
The most powerful species have had their energy destroyed
by unskilful preparation, or by not knowing at what season
to collect them. Orfila says,
" We were one day in the
shop of an apothecary who had several times furnished us
with extract of hemlock, which we had administered to dogs,
to the dose of 10 drachms without producing any serious
accident. We endeavoured to prove to him that the
medicine was badly prepared, and in order to convince
him effectually, we swallowed, in the presence of several
persons who happened to be in his shop, a drachm of this
extract (72 grains) dissolved in two drachms of water.
We felt no ill effect from it, whilst 20 to 30 grains of the
extract, well prepared, would probably have proved fatal
to us." This observation upon the badness of shop preparations
of this drug is confirmed by Mr. Pereira; and
Dr. Christison considers it absolutely necessary to begin
the inquiry into its effects anew, the preparations hitherto
employed being of very little energy, or absolutely inert.
Dr. Hancock makes the same remark upon shop Sarsaparilla.
If it should appear that many exotic plants have been
admitted, the importance of which is possibly not
greater than that of many European plants which have
been rejected, it should also be considered, that the
latter have been expelled from practice upon definite
grounds, and that no such careful investigation of the
former has yet been made; moreover, the very nature
of the climate of tropical countries generally causes the
properties of plants to be more concentrated and completely
elaborated than in northern latitudes. It may
possibly be said that numerous species have been admitted,
the properties of which are dietetic or poisonous rather
than medicinal. In noticing alimentary plants the author
has followed the example of the College of Physicians who
admit Barley, Wheat, Oats, Arrow-root, Sago, &c. into the
Pharmacopoeia; and he has endeavoured to select such
alimentary plants only as furnish the diet of a sick person.
With respect to poisons it is to be remembered that the
energy which renders them dangerous if taken in excess,
may also cause them to be, in the hands of skilful
practitloners, most valuable remedial agents. A medical man
should also be aware of their existence, as he may at any
time be called upon to counteract their effects.
In arranging his materials the author has generally
noticed at greatest length those plants which he supposes
to be most important; while others are either very shortly
described, or only mentioned by name. It will be found,
that the technical descriptions have been carefully framed
in accordance with the existing state of Botanical knowledge,
and according to the most approved rules of modern
science. The student will therefore be able to use them
as models upon which to familiarise himself with the art
of descriptive Botany. Nevertheless, it has not been
thought necessary to provide in all cases original descriptions; and consequently although a great many are so,
many others are only amended, altered, or corrected from
the works of other Botanists. In such a collection of facts
as this is much originality can hardly be expected; it will
however be found, upon reference to the articles Cinchona,
Croton, Rheum, Convolvulus, and others, that
original investigation has not been neglected when it
seemed to be required.
It will be generally found that the authorities for the
medicinal properties ascribed to species are those of the
writers whose works are quoted among the Botanical references; if it is not so the exact authority for a statement
is usually expressly mentioned.
For the convenience of those who may wish to use this
work as a catalogue of the contents of the Medicinal department
of a Botanic Garden, all the species are numbered
consecutively; and it is intended that the same numbers
should be preserved, in case the work should ever reach a
second edition; all additions being introduced with letters
after the numbers next to which they may be placed.
This intimation is given for the satisfaction of those who
may be desirous of combining the -advantage of a catalogue
with the information the work contains.
In the present state of systematical Botany no two
writers upon classification can agree respecting the exact
sequence in which the natural orders of plants should
follow each other. By some the plan of Jussieu is adopted,
by others that of De Candolle, and by many the systems of
Endlicher, of the author of this work, of Von Martius, of
Schultz, or even of Reichenbach may be preferred. This
can only be accounted for upon the supposition that the
systems of all these authors are equally false. To enable
the reader of this book to suit his own convenience in the
arrangement of the matter, the work is so printed that the
different natural orders may be cut asunder and re-arranged
at the pleasure of the possessor; some space has necessarily
been sacrificed to this object, but it is hoped that a corresponding
degree of convenience will attend it. The
scheme is, however, only a matter of experiment, and will
be abandoned hereafter if it should appear not to be of
general advantage. As the work leaves the publisher's
hands the sequence of matter corresponds with that of the
author's Natural System of Botany, because it will probably
be that preferred by the majority of readers in this
country.
It only remains to notice the sources from which the
information contained in this work has been procured. As
all the Pharmacological works of most repute have been
occasionally more or less consulted, it may appear almost
invidious to name any one in particular from which such
information has been gleaned more than from others. It is,
however, an act of the merest justice to say, that the
valuable work of Guibourt, the excellent lectures on Materia
Medica by Mr. Pereira, published in the Medical
Gazette, and Dr. Royle's various writings have furnished
the author with the most valuable part of his information
upon doubtful points.
LONDON, June 14. 1838.
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