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“Die of a Rose, in aromatic pain.”

As I have been favoured with some very interesting observations upon this subject by Dr. Richard Harrison, who resided for a considerable time in Italy, and was thus enabled to institute a satisfactory inquiry into this curious subject, I feel no hesitation in introducing a quotation from his letter to my readers.—“You ask me what experience I have had on the subject of climate, as affecting the powers and operation of remedies; I have no difficulty in asserting that Narcotics act with greater force even in smaller doses at Naples, where I had the advantages of much experience, than in England. I might adduce as an example the Extract of Hyoscyamus, which, when given to the extent of three grains thrice a day, produced in two patients a temporary amaurosis, which disappeared and again recurred on the alternate suspension and administration of this medicine; and it deserves particular notice that these very patients had been in the habit of taking similar doses of the same remedy in England, without any unpleasant result. Now that this depended upon an increased susceptibility of the patient, in the warmer climate, rather than an increased power in the remedy, is unquestionable, since the extract which was administered in Italy had been procured from London; indeed a high state of nervous irritation is the prevalent disorder of Naples. I treated several cases of Epilepsy in Italy with the nitrate of silver, and with complete success, while in England I certainly have not met with the same successful results. During my residence at Naples, I spent some time in the island of Ischia, so celebrated all over the continent for its baths; many of the patients who were then trying their efficacy, had been attacked by Paralysis, Apoplexy, and almost every degree of loss of mental and muscular power, and among them I certainly witnessed what with propriety might be denominated a genuine case of Nervous Apoplexy. These complaints I was generally able to trace to the abuse of Mercury, whence we may, I think, very fairly conclude that this metal is more active in its effects in that, than in our own country. Before I quit this subject, I ought to mention that the doses of medicines, as seen in the prescriptions and works of English Physicians, excite universal astonishment among the faculty of Italy. In fact, as I have just stated, the human constitution in this part of the continent is certainly more susceptible of nervous impression than in England: it is perfectly true that flowers or perfumes in a chamber, will frequently produce syncope in persons apparently strong and healthy, and the fact is so universally admitted, that the Italians avoid them with the greatest caution.” On the other hand, it appears equally evident that some remedies succeed in cold climates which produce little or no benefit in warmer latitudes. Soon after the publication of the first edition of my Pharmacologia, I received a letter from Dr. Halliday of Moscow, upon the subject of the “Eau Medicinale,” and as it offers a striking proof of the efficacy of the Rhododendron Chrysanthum in curing the rheumatism of the North, whilst in this country the plant has been repeatedly tried without any signal proof of success, I shall here subjoin an extract from the letter of my correspondent: “In reading your account of the ‘Eau Medicinale,’ I perceive that, upon the authority of Mr. James Moore, you state it to be a preparation of the White Hellebore; may I be allowed to suggest the probability of its being made from the leaves of the Rhododendron Chrysanthum? for so far as I can learn, the effects of the French medicine are precisely those which are experienced from an infusion of the above plant, which the Siberians and Russians regard as an infallible specific in the cure of chronic rheumatism and gout, and from which I myself, as well as other physicians in Russia, have witnessed the most desirable and decided effects, whenever we had it in our power to administer the remedy with confidence and courage. We have seldom given it in any other form or dose than that adopted by the Siberians themselves, which is to infuse in a warm place, generally near a furnace and during the night, two drachms of the fresh leaves in about twelve ounces of boiling water, taking care that the liquid never boils. This dose is to be taken in the morning upon an empty stomach, and during its nauseating operation, which generally commences within a quarter of an hour after it has been swallowed, neither solids nor liquids of any description are allowed; after an interval of three or four hours, I have seen the patient obtain a copious and black fœtid stool, and get up free from pain. Should it happen that the patient does not recover from the first dose, another is administered on the succeeding day, and I have known it to be taken for three days in succession, when the severest fits of gout have been removed.^[120] Is it not then probable that some cunning Frenchman has availed himself of this Siberian specific, and concentrated it in such a form, as to defy all the learned to find it out?”

Dr. Halliday adds, “The Siberians denominate the leaves of this plant, when infused in water, Intoxicating Tea; and a weaker infusion is in daily use, especially for treating their neighbours, just as the Europeans do with tea from China.”

Before we quit the consideration of Climate, as being capable of influencing the activity of a remedy, the important fact should not be overlooked, that in India, and other colonies of similar temperature, Mercurial Medicines, in order to produce their beneficial effects, require to be administered to an extent which would prove destructive to the inhabitants of this island.

But of all the circumstances that produce the greatest change in the aspect as well as in the virtues of the vegetable creation, is Cultivation, which may either destroy the medicinal properties of a plant, or raise in it new and most valuable qualities: cultivation converts single into double flowers, by developing the stamens into petals, a change which in many cases destroys their efficacy, as in the camomile, Anthemis Nobilis; for, since all the virtues of this flower reside in the disc florets, it is of course greatly deteriorated by being converted into the double-flowered variety; by the operation of grafting extraordinary changes may also be produced; Olivier, in his travels, informs us that a soft Mastiche, having all the qualities of that resin, except its consistence, which is that of turpentine, is procured by engrafting the Lentisk on the Chian Turpentine tree.

Buffon states that our wheat is a factitious production raised to its present condition by the art of agriculture. M. Virey^[121] observes, that by suppressing the growth of one part of a plant we may respectively give rise to an increased developement in others; thus are some vegetables rendered eunuchs, or are deprived of seeds by obliteration, and only propagate themselves by slips; such a condition is frequently produced by culture, continued through a long succession of generations; this is the case with the Banana, Sugar Cane, and other fruits that have carefully been made to deviate for a long series of years from their original types, and having been continually transplanted by slips, suckers, or roots, at length only propagate themselves in this way, whereby the roots, as those of the common potatoe, become inordinately developed, drawing to themselves the succulence and nutrition originally possessed by the berries. It seems probable that we may thus have lost many vegetable species; the Tuberes of Pliny, for example, are supposed by Mr. Andrew Knight to have been intermediate productions, formed during the advancement of the Almond to the Peach, or in other words that they were swollen almonds or imperfect peaches; if this conjecture be admitted, it will explain the fact stated by Columella, that the peach possessed deleterious qualities when it was first introduced from Persia into the Roman Empire. If there be any who feel sceptical upon the subject of such metamorphoses, let him visit the fairy bowers of Horticulture, and he will there perceive that her magic wand has not only converted the tough, coriaceous covering of the Almond into the soft and melting flesh of the Peach, but that by her spells, the sour Sloe has ripened into the delicious Plum, and the austere Crab of our woods into the Golden Pippin; that this again has been made to sport in endless variety, emulating in beauty of form and colour, in exuberance of fertility and in richness of flavour, the rarer productions of warmer regions, and more propitious climates! In our culinary vegetables the same progressive amelioration and advancement may be traced; thus has the acrid and disagreeable Apium graveolens been changed into delicious Celery, and the common Colewort, by culture continued through many ages, appears under the improved and more useful forms of Cabbage, Savoy, and Cauliflower. It has been already observed that the alimentary and medicinal virtues are frequently in opposition to each other, and that while cultivation improves the former, it equally diminishes the latter; I shall have occasion to offer some additional facts upon this curious subject, under the consideration of Bitter Extractive; see Note on this Extract, in the article “Tonics.”