Gentiana quinquefolia

Volume I — Appendix

(Gall-weed.)

Description. — A member of the order Gentinaceoz. The plant grows in woods and pastures, flowers in September and October, is found from Vermont to Pennsylvania, and a variety of it is common through the Western States.

Preparation. — Tincture of the herb.

(No Proving.)

0 Chronic ague where there is debility, and a tendency to relapse.

° Obstinate intermittents where Quinine and other antiperiodics had failed. Increasing the flow of gastric juice, it is a valuable remedy for

° Dyspepsia, either primary or secondary.

° Liver affections. Jaundice.

° Headache, periodic.

Volume II — Special Therapeutics

entirely disappeared, and the tongue had recovered its natural structure and appearance.

GENTIANA QUINQUEFLOEA.

The “ five-flowered Gentian ” has long had a high reputation among the country people, to whom it is best known by the name of “gall of the earth.” When residing in Central Ohio, where it is found abundantly, I have known the victims of chronic ague use it with marked success. It seems to differ from the other Gentiance in possessing decided antiperiodic power.

Dr. C. A. Yelvington, a distinguished physician of Susquehanna, Pa., recently called attention to it as a superior antiperiodic, and says that he first learned its use from the tribe of Indians that once lived on the Susquehanna Fiver. He says that “ he has succeeded in obstinate intermittents where Quinine and other antiperiodics had failed, tie used the decoction of the herb. A fluid extract or the saturated tincture is a better form for administration in fever. It is a valuable tonic for old cases of dyspepsia and torpid liver.”

King (“Dispensatory”) says:

The people use it as a bitters and a liver medicine. It is a very positive tonic, and possesses active antiperiodic powers. The saturated tincture, combined with Ptelea, is a very remarkable tonic, increasing the flow of gastric fluid, hence a valuable remedy in dyspepsia, either primary or secondary. As an antiperiodic it is well adapted to chronic cases of ague where there is debility and a tendency to relapse. It grows in woods and pastures, and flowers in September and October, just before frost. It is found in many parts of the United States.

Dr. Yelvington gives his experience, which is confirmed by that of many recent writers :

My first trials were made within a few days on three cases of obstinate intermittents of the tertian form, the patients being a mother and two children, having contracted it at their former home, a malarious district in Eastern New York. On inquiring I found it was three years that they had had chills and fever, and this was the third year they had suffered with it. Quinia and other antiperiodics had failed to control the disease, but to my surprise and satisfaction in one week’s time it was brought entirely under subjection by the use of a decoction of the herb, and -without a recurrence, as had previously been the case in the use of Quinia.

The success in these cases led me to a continued use of the remedy, and with me it soon took the place of Quinia ; and in a large and varied practice of over ten years since my commencing its use, I can safely say as a substitute for the former article it has completely answered the purpose. It is a more pleasant bitter, and does not produce any of the unpleasant symptoms attending an overdose of Quinia.

As he seems to have used it alone, uncombined with other drugs, his statements are worthy of record. He says :

It flowers in September and October, and is so humble an herb that it would scarcely be recognized even when searching for it, unless in bloom. The early frost kills it, and when an early fall comes it is scarce for a year or two. For the past two years I have used the remedy in a saturated tr., one part alcohol, three parts water, obtaining its strength by maceration, using a press to procure all of the strength possible. I always carry it in my case, and treat successfully many cases with this simple remedy, adding gj to from §j to §ij of water, and ordering a teaspoonful of the mixture every hour to four hours, as deemed necessary. For the past two years I have prescribed it satisfactorily in small doses in numerous cases of infantile fevers, also in cholera infantum. From many and repeated trials I would give a summary like the following :

1st. As an antiperiodic it is equal to any, surpassed by none.

2d. An overdose produces no unpleasant symptoms, no ringing of the ears, as in Quinia and its preparations, merely causing a sense of exhilaration and lightness of the body.

3d. It is applicable and may be used at any stage of the fever, and seems capable in itself of reducing the bodily temperature.

4th. As a tonic in enfeebled and chronic diseases it is a remedy par excellence, appearing to exert an action over the organs of nutrition and assimilation, as well as being a stimulant to the excretory organs.

5th. Its compatibility combined or alternated with other remedial agents, makes it to the physician the more valuable from its wide range of action.

6tli. The safety as a remedy is such that none may fear to use it, as in over ten years’ use, I have yet to find the first patient who was obliged to discontinue its use on account of untoward symptoms produced by it, or even from idiosyncrasy of constitution.

I think it would well repay a proving; but the fact that it has not a pathogenesis should not prevent us from testing its virtues in chronic malarial diseases, dyspepsia, and hepatic troubles, which so often resist our best-selected remedies.