46 SECT. VII.----PLANTS USEFUL TN MEDICINE.

164. ALLIUM sativum. Garlic. The Root. L. E. ZX—This pungentroot Sarins and stimulates thesolids, and attenuates tenacious juices-Hence hi cold leucophlegmatic habits it proves a powerful expectorantsdiuretic, and emmenagogue ; and, if the patient Is kept warm, sudorific

In humoral asthmas, and catarrhous disorders of the breast, in sonicscurvies, flatulent colics, hysterical and other diseases proceeding fromlaxity of the solids, and cold sluggish indisposition of the fluids, it hasgenerally good effects: it has likewise been found serviceable in som ehydropic cases. Sydenham relates, that he has known the dropsycured by the use of garlic alone ; he recommends it chiefly as a ward*strengthening medicine in the beginning of the disease.

Garlic made into an unguent with oils, &c. and applied externally*is said to resolve and discuss cold tumours, and has been by some greatlyesteemed in cutaneous diseases. It has likewise sometimes been em*ployed as a repellent. Sydenham assures us, that among all the sub-stances which occasion a derivation or revulsion from the head, noneoperate more powerfully than garlic applied to the soles of the feet:hence he was led to make use of it in the confluent small-pox aboutthe eighth day, after the face began to swell; the root cut in piece**and tied in a linen cloth, was applied to the soles, and renewed once aday till all danger was over.

165. ALLIUM Cepa. Onion. The Root. D. — These roots areconsidered rather as articles of food than of medicine : they are sup"posed to afford little or no nourishment, and when eaten liberally theyproduce flatulencies, occasion thirst, headachs, and turbulent dreams 1in cold phlegmatic habits, where viscid mucus abounds, they doubt-less have their.use; as by their stimulating quality they tend to ex-cite appetite, attenuate thick juices, and promote their expulsion : bysome they are strongly recommended in suppressions of urine and i"dropsies. The chief medicinal use of onions in the present practice I sin external applications, as a cataplasm for suppurating tumours, &c«

166. ALTHiEA officinalis. Marsh-Ma now. The Leaves and Root, t---This plant has the genera! viituesof an emollient medicine; and pro** 5serviceable in a thin acrimonious state of the juices, and where tb enatural mucus of the intestines is abraded. It is chiefly recommend 6 "in sharp definitions upon the lungs, hoarseness, dysenteries, and lik e "wise in nephritic and calculous complaints; not, as some have sup"posed, that this medicine has any peculiar power of dissolving or ex-pelling the calculus; but as, by lubricating and relaxing the vesselsit procures a more free and easy passage. Althaea root is sumetim eSemployed externally for softening and maturating hard tumours : che**ed, it is said to give ease in difficult dentition of children.

The officinal preparations are:—Decoctio Althaea? officinalis, a |JSyrupus Althaa;.

Similar Plants. —Malva officinalis ,■ M. rotundifolia; M. mauntanica'it-avatera arborescens*

This root gives name to an officinal syrup [£. £.] and ei&tment [&*J