THE following observations form a part of one of my Introductory Lectures. I have thought that they might, with some propriety, be introduced in this place.

"IT is a trite observation, that every country possesses remedies that are suited to the cure of its peculiar diseases. The greater number of those who have adopted this opinion, have imagined, that the principal portion of indigenous remedies is to be found among the vegetables of the countries in which the diseases prevail.

"THIS observation, in a limited degree, is undoubtedly well founded. But the universality of the position may, I think, be called in question. Man is subject to many diseases, both of body and of intellect, for the cure of which it would seem to be a part of the scheme of Providence, that he never shall discover remedies. Moreover, man is capable of subsisting, and actually does subsist, in certain portions of the earth, in which hardly a vegetable is seen, or can be made, to grow. Yet, in these situations man is not exempted from diseases: for diseases appear to be as necessarily a part of his essence or nature as the organs and the functions of his body.

"BUT although we are not authorized, from an extensive examination of the subject, to conclude, that every country possesses native remedies, that are the best adapted for the cure of its peculiar diseases, still it must be admitted, that the observation

is, in part, well founded. It was remarked by a writer*, who was more distinguished for the vivacity of his wit than for the solidity of his judgement, that the intermittent fever prevailed in Europe, but that the Peruvian bark was found in South-America. This observation was intended as an exception to the general rule which I have mentioned. Perhaps, it was intended to arraign the benevolent order of Providence. But the observation can have no weight with physici ans who know, that the intermittent fever is the disease of almost every climate, and that the Peruvian bark is not the only remedy that is capable of subduing this disease.

"WITHOUT any regard, however, to the rule that, in general, the remedies for diseases exist in the native countries of such diseases, it may safely be conjectured, judging from the discoveries which have already been made, in the term of three hundred years, that there are no countries of the world from which there is reason to expect greater or more valuable accessions to the Materia Medica, than the countries of America. The different species of Cinchona, or Peruvian bark, the Quassia, the Simarouba, the Guaiacum, the different kinds of Jallap and of Ipecacuanha, the Polygala Senega, the two species of Spigelia, not to mention many other valuable medicines, are all natives of America; and most of them have not, hitherto, been found in any other portion of the world.

"It has often been said, that the Materia Medica is already crowded with a great number of inert, useless,

*Monsieur De Voltaire.

or pernicious medicines. This I think is strictly true; and it is certainly, high time to banish from the shops many of the medicines, or articles, which they contain. This fullness of the Materia Medica ought not, however, to make us relax in our inquiries into the properties of the vegetables of our own and of other countries. No candid physician will deny, that he often meets with cases in which the choice of active medicines is a matter of consequence. So various are the constitutions of our patients; so infinitely various are the forms under which diseases present themselves, that it becomes absolutely necessary to know, and to possess, a great number of different medicines, even of those which are endowed with a common assemblage of properties.

"I AM not ignorant, that there are some persons, who consider the science of medicine as a science of extreme simplicity; who believe, or affect to believe, that in the treatment of diseases, we have arrived at something like the ultimatum of perfection. We are already, say these persons, in possession of all the means that are necessary for the alleviation, or for the cure, of our diseases. It is needless, then, to ransack nature any further.

"IN opposition to such an opinion as this, it will be sufficient to hint at the recent date of the introduction of some of the most important articles of medicine into the Materia Medica; or at the recent date of our acquaintance with the new properties and powers of those which have long been known. The properties of Mercury could hardly be said to be

known until the general spread of the venereal disease through Europe, towards the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th centuries. Nay not more than half the invaluable powers of this herculean medicine were discovered before the middle of the last century; and I cannot hesitate to believe, that many of its properties are still unknown. The Peruvian bark, the Ipecacuanha, the Jallap, the Tobacco, the Guaiacum, and many others, were not even named to the physicians of the old-world, until several years after the discovery of America, in 1492. Some of the most valuable properties of Opium, such as its use in the treatment of low nervous fevers, were not detected before the middle of the eighteenth century; and of the Digitalis, one of the most common plants of some of the most cultivated countries of Europe, little except the fact of its being an extremely deleterious plant, was ascertained previously to the excellent publication of Dr. Withering. These facts, certainly, show us, that we have no reason for believing, that the list of important articles of the Materia Medica is completed; or that we are fully acquainted with all the properties of those which have been known for hundreds of years. On the contrary, they render it highly probable, that hitherto, we have discovered but a very small part of those vegetable and other remedies, which Providence, in the fullness of his benevolence, has scattered over the earth.

"IN conducting our inquiries into the properties of the medicinal vegetables of our country, much useful information may, I am persuaded, be obtained

through the medium of our intercourse with the Indians. Let not this observation induce any of you to suppose, that I am of opinion, with many travellers, and with some writers on the Materia Medica, that the savages of North-America are in possession of absolute specifics for all, or for any, of their diseases. I am too much of a skeptic in matters that regard the science of medicine to admit of the existence of any medicines that are strictly entitled to the name of specifics; and my inquiries concerning the diseases and remedies of our Indians have convinced me, that among these people the art of medicine is truly in a shapeless and an embryo state.

"IT is, nevertheless, certain that some of the rudest tribes of our continent are acquainted with the general medical properties of many of their vegetables. Like the rest of mankind, they are subject to diseases; and like all nations in the savage forms of society, many of their diseases are violent. Nor, notwithstanding what has been repeatedly asserted to the contrary, are the diseases of those North-American tribes with whom we are the best acquainted either simple or few. The diseases of our Indians, even of those tribes who have been the least influenced, or corrupted, by their intercourse with more civilized nations, are numerous, and often present themselves in the mixed or complicated forms which have been supposed to be, in a great measure, confined to nations. in the more improved and luxurious stages of society. It is, I believe, a truth, that the medicines of savage and other uncultivated nations are, in general, medicines of an active kind. Thus, if we except that