Volume 1

Pharmacologia; comprehending the art of prescribing upon fixed and scientific principles; together with the history of medicinal substances / [John Ayrton Paris].

  • Paris, John Ayrton, 1785-1856.
Date:
1822
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pharmacologia; comprehending the art of prescribing upon fixed and scientific principles; together with the history of medicinal substances / [John Ayrton Paris]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ligulate white florets, destitute of medicinal properties. But what is more embarrassing*, the different parts of the same plant have often very different powers; a fact which is beautifully exemplified in the Podo¬ phyllum Peltatum, or May Apple, the leaves of which are poisonous, the root powerfully cathartic, and the fruit agreeably esculent; so the leaves of the Jatropa 31a ni hot are employed as a common esculent, while its root secretes a most virulent poison; but we need not seek further for an example than the fruit of the Lemon, the juice of which is acid, its seeds hitter, and its rind aromatic; in some instances it happens that the energy of a plant is concentrated in one particular part, and that ail the rest is absolutely inert; thus, the root of the Convolvulus Scammonia, is the only portion of that plant which possesses any medicinal quality;* yet notwithstanding all these difficulties, botany is capable of furnishing us with analogies which will lead to important conclusions with respect to the medicinal properties of different vegetables. The system of Linnaeus, although in a great degree artificial, corresponds in a surprising manner with the natural properties of plants; thus a plant whose calyx is a double valved glume, with three stamina, two pistils, and one naked seed, bears seeds of a farinaceous and nutritious quality; a flower with twelve, or more stamina, all of which are inserted in the internal side of the calyx, will furnish a wholesome fruit; whereas a plant whose flower has five stamina, one pistil, one petal, and whose fruit is of the berry kind, may at once be pronounced as poisonous. It is also in a great degree true that the sensible * Russell’s Nat. Hist, of Aleppo.