DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES. Col. Sargent's painting of The Entrance of Jesus Christ into the city of Jerusalem, Sketch of the Battle of Bunker's Hill, 66 Sketch by Sully of West's painting Christ healing the sick in the temple,' 216 View of Ticonderoga Forts on Lake Champlain, 323 Plan of the Position of General Burgoyne's army on its surrender at Saratoga, 433 449 The following memorandum was found on the back of the picture, in the hand-writing of the late colonel Jonathan Williams: 'This portrait of Dr. Franklin was painted by Martin, in London, when the doctor was about sixty years of age. It was ordered and paid for by Robert Alexander, then of the house of William Alexander and Sons, at Edinburgh, and was designed to perpetuate the circumstance of his advice, given in consequence of the perusal of certain important papers.' Dr. Franklin was so well satisfied with Mr. Martin's performance, and the likeness was deemed so perfect, that he was induced to have a copy made by the same painter, at his own expense, and it was sent to his family in Philadelphia. The original painting, from which our engraving is taken, is at present the property of Thomas S. Biddle, Esq. The copy is in the Philosophical Hall of Philadelphia. DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA, to wit: BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the 1st day of July, in the forty-first year of the independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1817, MOSES THOMAS, of the said district, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit: The Analectic Magazine. In conformity to the Act of Congress of the United States entitled, “An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned." And also to the act, entitled, "An act supplementary to an act entitled "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints. DAVID CALDWELL, Clerk of the District of Pennsylvania. 191 311, 484 Academy of Natural Sciences of Barton's and Bigelow's Medical Balance of Comfort, review of, can character, of 352 125 16 332 33 Botany, bles in ib. number of known vegeta Bradbury's Travels in America, review of Brazil, scientific researches in Bunker's Hill, battle of farther particulars. General Gage's account of the battle, General Burgoyne's, and that of the Congress of Massachusetts, Burgoyne's defeat at Saratoga, Character of a Miser and of a Chemical amusements, analysis of the mud of Cookery, remarks on Cotton, description of the culture of 17 Cows, mode of ascertaining the comparative value of Coxe on fruit trees, cider, &c. 75 146 140 THE ANALECTIC MAGAZINE. JANUARY, 1818. ART. I.-1. Vegetable Materia Medica of the United States, or Medical Botany. By W. P. C. Barton, M. D. Number second, quarto. 2. American Medical Botany, being a Collection of the Native Medicinal Plants of the United States, containing their Botanical History and Chymical Analysis, and Properties, and uses in Medicine, Diet and the Arts, with coloured engravings. By Jacob Bigelow, M. D. Rumford Professor and Lecturer on Materia Medica and Botany, in Harvard University. Vol. 1. large octavo. THERE can be no doubt but in such a country as this, so ex tensive, comprising such variety of climate and situation, so comparatively unexplored, so new even to its inhabitants-an inquiry into the medical and dietetic properties of the plants it contains, deserves to be pursued, and has strong claims to public encouragement. At the same time it should be kept in view in pursuing such an inquiry, that unless the tendency to extend the vegetable articles of the materia medica be kept under pretty strong control, there is hardly a plant of any description throughout the whole United States, but may take its place in such a publication. As the abbè Mably observed of the eternelle histoire of M. Gibbon, the medical botany may be continued without prospect of termination, and be left, like a Spanish game of chess, at the decease of the authors, a task to be continued by their posterity for generations yet to come. It is said of Solomon, that he spake of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon, even to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: but the present occasion does not call upon us to follow such an extensive example. We think it necessary to make these remarks at the outset of the labours of Dr. Barton and Dr. Bigelow, that they may not crowd their publications with articles of slight or dubious utility, or with plants that are inferior in medical virtues, to those in common use by the medical profession, and easy to be procured. The materia medica is already crowded with substances useless and inert; which fashionable physicians and young practitioners who seek popularity by recommending new medicines, have forced into the encumbered list. If, instead of doubling the number of plants used in medicine, nine-tenths of those commonly kept in the shops were struck off from the list, quite enough would remain for useful purposes. Dr. Bigelow seems aware of this, but it may still be necessary to remind him occasionally of his own remarks. Dr. Barton's first number contained Triosteum perfoliatum (Feverwort.) Gillenia stipulacea (small flowered Indian physic.) His second number contains Magnolia glauca (small magnolia) very like Michaux's plate. Cornus sericea (Swamp dogwood.) Symplocarpus fœtida angustispatha (Purple-skinned skunk cab bage.) Cassia marilandica (American Senna.) Arum triphyllum (Dragon root.) Coptis trifolia (Gold thread.) Arbutus uva ursi (Bear berry.) Sanguinaria canadensis (Blood root.) Rhus vernix (Poison sumach or dogwood.) The only plants therefore described by both these gentlemen, are the Sanguinaria canadensis, blood root or puccoon, and the Triosteum perfoliatum, feverwort, or fever root. Let us see what is the value of the medical information presented by Dr. Barton's second and Dr. Bigelow's first number. Magnolia glauca. It is an agreeable aromatic tonic bitter. So is the Aristolochia serpentaria: the Contrayerva: the Cortex eleutheria: the Angustura: the Columbo: the Zedoary, and many more equally trifling and useless; which of these does the Magnolia supersede either in quality or price? Liriodendron Tulipfera. A tonic and sudorific. Sudorifics so frequently owe their virtues to the warm water employed in the decoction, that they possess, for the most part, very uncertain claims to their title. Is this plant better, if equal to the common decoction of the woods; sassafras, sarsaparilla, and mezerion? Dr. J. T. Young says, "I can assert from experience, there is not in all the materia medica a more certain, speedy, and effectual remedy in the hysteria, than the poplar bark combined with a small quantity of laudanum." So it is that young physicians write. In nine cases out of ten, what is usually called hysteria, arises from mere indigestion; sometimes, but seldom comparatively, from proper hysteric affections wherewith the digestive organs sympathise. At any rate, is not the active medicine here, the laudanum? Nei |
