The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-04-04
MEDICINAL PLANTS.
Properties THAT Ala tho Physician Described
by Pror. Jeliine.

Huge, richly colorcd stereopticon pictures OF
blossoming plants and flowers illustrated the
closing lecture of the Columbia University pop
ular course, delivered by Prof. Smith Ely Jel-
life of tho New York College Of Pharmacy on
Saturday evening, at the American Museum OF
Natural History. His subject was Medicinal
Plants" and n large audience listened with evil
dent pleasure. He traced tho development OF
the science of botany from tho primitive
period. when doctors were botanists, phar-
macists, and physicians, to tho present
day, when tho pharmacist has become
the expert middleman, whose skill in compound
ing the medicinal virtues OF plants and exact
knowledge OF drugs have rendered it unnecessary
for the physician to bother his head about bot
any. He enumerated the herbs and plants and
flowers that wore supposed In the days of the
forefathcrs to possess medicinal virtues, but
have since been shown to be worthless. and de-
scribcd thoso now highly priced because of real
curative qualities.
First Of these, he said, is the May APP
pie that grows in abundance along shady
streams and along the fences of cultivated
fields all tho way from Canada to Flor.
ida. Aside from its beauty of bloom and It's
pulpy yellow fruit, it has a medicinal prize In
it's root from which are manufactured podo-
phillum pills. The f~oxglovc, too, that grows in
stately clusters in old-fashioned gardens, has n
virtue in its leaves that was known rs carly as
the sixteenth century. From 1t is made ~digitalis,
n drug Of great merit in the treatment Of
heart trouble. Witch hazel, which for
mcrly yielded q medicine used exclusively
for bruises and sunburn. has lately been found
to have great value still in the treatment Of skin
disease, the later discovery being tho tincture
that is extracted from the branches and leaves
Of the last flowers of the year. The poison hem
lock, which has been transplanted here in waste
places from Europe and Asia, yields the poison
which it is supposed Socrates took for his fatal
draught, and which is used now in the treat
ment of cancer and nervous diseases. Monks
that is cultivated for purely ornamental
value in well-kept gardens, yields aconitc.
h iba wa lSiEfly and GIlaih # war sso Known m to s The a ancient ot
Chinese for tho poison extracted from its root.
1t Is a deadly poison. 4 single root, bruised,
the action Of the heart. The green %hcllebore
leaves and II spike of whitish blossoms yields
another sort OF poison. which makes its root
an insect and animal poison were known to the
Romans. who employed it to poison vermin.
grows here and in Great Britain. has still diff.
fcrcnt and distinct medicinal properties in its
root and leaves. The extract OF its leaves is ad.
ministered TO quiet maniacs in asylums. The
root has an opposite effect. Belladonna. or the
deadly nightshude. yields to the pharmacist the
poison known as atropinc. an overdose OF which
cies Of the plant grow here, although it is not
family as the potato. welI.Enown cases are
on record. by the way, OF poisoning from the
seem to . contain o. lG's some SH%"S Of the deadly adj
properties Of the belladonna; Atropine is
mon poisonous plant which grows in vacant lots,
and is F toSsn rassn By Eyid its pr, PhricEbl lgss burr a. and ib a
mornInF R'E sior:y. r'S The drug 'h It y a,IdsOh has 81 be sea
known TO the Hindoos from the most, remote
time, under the SansCrit name of dhntooro.
Ii appears that ii was often used TO produce in
sanity in persons in high station when it was
feared that their brains in normal condition
Bclladonnn and its alkaloids although a menace
to children who are liable to eat its berries, is
the pupil of the eye, and by physicians for its
quality of paralyzing, the nerves in neuralgia
inflammation arising from colds. Atropine is a
perfect antidotc for the poisonous mushroom.
to iEG,: Tf tbs @a GEiSslpeq al Of ie eainin sn from Gh, ,he
bark. q! the discovery of this most valuable
drug he tod a romantic story; v are told
was lying helpless in a wilderness, sick OF a vio-
lent fever. dragged himself TO a pool of water
drinking he felt his strength gradually return.
ing. and was eventually able to rise and go
surprise. as no remedy was then known for
intermittent fever, and many visited the pool.
adTcr S'''S that tnS it W snS im prssn Ted 10 with the the the
properties OF tho bark OF the trees growing at
the gorge. Its virtue WAS not known 10 ClvlllZa-
ton. however. until 1t happened that the wife Of
the NiCcroy Of Peru was lying i'll OF the fever.
and IA Jesuit priest that the bark
BE- ground 10 a powder and administered 10 her.
The resultant cure was considered so wonderful
that the Viccroy sent an expedition into the
forest TO collect the bark. and upon his return to
Spain brought 1t with him and gave away large
quantities OF it to the sick. The name OF the
Viccroy was Luis Geronimo Fernandez de Ca
brcra j Bobadilla, fourtlP Count of Chinchon,
and the scientific name of quinine cinchona owes
its origin 10 the Countess of ChinChou, the
Viceroy's wife, who was cured by the virtues of
cinchona bark"