106

PRESCRIPTIONS.

[The following is intended, in any future edition, to beinserted instead of the No. 18, in page 40 of this book.]

NO. 18.

The Back-ache root

Grows frequently in dry prairies and glady barrens,in the western country and state of Ohio; and I believeit may be cultivated from the seed.

It is called back-ache root, from its special use for thatcomplaint (the back-ache.)

It is also frequently called colic-root, because it isa known cure for the colic. But its more ancientname has been The Devils Bitt.

The top is a round weed, from two to five feet high,having no branches at all, but thickly strung with longscattered leaves. About one fourth of the stalk fromthe top point, is covered, in the summer, with purpleblossoms growing out of the stalk like the mullen;but the stalk is not much bigger than a pipe stem, andseems as if it grew always in a bunch of grass, whichgrass indeed is the leaves of the root.

The root itself is a lump or knub of irregular form,and various in shape and size; its taste is mild, resem-bling the taste of allocompain, or a pine bud, or both.

The properties of this root I conceive are special, be-ing a mild aromatic, yet a powerful stimulus; answer-ing generally as an antispasmodic, and may be founduseful in all the nervous disorders.

In using the Back-ache root, observe,

1. A chew of this root is a quick relief for the tooth-ache.

2. By chewing this root, persons have been cured ofthe colic and finally of the habit, or return of it.

3. The Croup or bold Hives, have been speedily cu-red by drinking a decoction of this root, making the sameroot into a poltice, and laying it warm to the pit of thestomach. The decoction should be given, as liberallyas possible, till the child gets relief.

4. I have found the decoction of this root, a speedyremedy for the head-ache.

5. The back-ache has been cured by this root, and in