PHARMACOPCEIAL VEGETABLE DRUGS.
in his Formulary, p. 67, says: "The above preparation has been as-serted, by the New York Medical Society, to be nearly identical withthe noted Panacea of Swaim."
That oil of gaultheria was a constituent of Swaim's remedy andthat it was brought into conspicuity therein, may also be seen froman analysis of Swaim's Panacea (by Chilton) recorded in the Am. J.Med. Sciences, 1829, p. 542. The following reprint from an anony-mous writer in the American Journal of Pharmacy, 1831, establishesthe subject more clearly in that it gives a very fair description of oilof gaultheria as well as making a Statement to the effect that it isthe same as sweet birch oil, and showing further that many differentplants yield the same oil.
Oil of Gaultheria procumbens: —"This is the heaviest essential oil of whichwe have any knowledge, for I have found it to be 1.17. This furnishes us withan easy mode of testing its purity. The wonderful success of Swaim's Panaceahas brought this oil into great vogue with all venders of Catholicons, Panaceas,and Syrups of Sarsaparilla.
It appears to be a vegetable principle secreted in plants very widely sepa-rated by their natural affinities. The Betula lenta or Sweet Birch secretes itin its bark; the Polygala paucif olia in its roots; the Spircea ulmaria* the Spircealobata and the Gaultheria hispidula in their roots and stalks.
But that oil of wintergreen was used somewhat in domestic medi-cine about that date, and also by Dr. Wooster Beach, the forerunnerof Eclectic medicine, is evidenced, for Dr. Beach in his AmericanPractice of Medicine, Vol. III (1833, P- 20I )> concerning Gaultheria"Gaulthera" repens, states that "The oil relieves the tooth ache."
Antedating this paper, I have not succeeded in frnding any refer-ence whatever to oil of gaultheria being used in medicine, althoughthe plants that contain it were generali}' recognized in pharmacy, theoil being distilled by primitive methods and known to druggists. Thus,as showing that even if used at all it could not have been importantI need only to refer to a few of the many authorities who would nothave overlooked it.
Amoinitates Academios III, p. 14, 1787.
"Gaultheria, Kalm. (385) (Gen. 487).— Usus foliorum in infuso,loca Theae. Dixit plantam Cl. Kalmius a. D. D. Gaulthier, MedicoCanadensi, Botanico eximio." No reference to the oil.
Benj. Smith Barton. Coixections (43), Etc. Philad., 1798, p. 19.
"The Gaultheria procumbens, which we call Mountain Tea, isspread very extensively over the more barren, mountainous part of theUnited States," etc. Does not mention the oil.
Pharmacopbia op the Mass. Medicai, Society (503). Boston,
1808.
No mention of the oil or plant.
* Pagenstecher described oil of Spircea ulmaria in the Repertorium f. d. Pharmacie, 1834,P- 337, and is credited by Procter with its discovery. But we have in this paper a referencethat antedates him three years. Still, this anonymous writer is preceded thirteen years byDr. Jacob Bigelow, as shown in our history.
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