Family Name: Ranunculaceae

Introduction

Golden seal is a most excellent herbal remedy. It is specifically useful in both acute and chronic infections of the respiratory tract. It contains compounds that kill the bugs at the root of these infections and speeds healing of the mucous membranes. When respiratory tract infections are an issue, you need to know about golden seal.

One of the things that blows my mind about the modern world is this. Botanical medicines offer such an opportunity for well being, and, for the most part, it gets ignored. More specifically, when some really interesting discovery gets made ABOUT an herbal medicine, no one finds out about it and or puts that knowledge into use. Goldenseal would be exhibit A in my argument.

When I was doing my PhD research I discovered that Goldenseal had been shown to block the resistance capacity of bacteria. You may not know, but, antibiotic resistant bacteria is kicking the behind of the medical community. All kinds of strains of bacteria are showing up that antibiotics don’t touch…because the bacteria are resistant. Some researcher finds out that Goldenseal inhibits the resistance factor that bacteria have, and, what happens? Nothing. I would think this little factoid would have made front page news. Oh No.

Anyhow, if you are interested in bacterial infection, or avoiding getting one, or wanting to be rid of one, check out Goldenseal.

Resources

Fact Sheet
Chapter from Back Yard Medicine Ches
Chapter from my PhD Thesis
Notes from the Eclectic Physicians

Fact Sheet

Part Used: Root

Remember This: Chronic Infection Cure

Reasonable Uses: Infections, especially when they have become chronic, tonsilitis, sinusitis, laryngitis, pharyngitis, bronchitis, urethritis, cystitis, vaginitis, leucorrhea, dermatitis.

History and Traditional Uses
Once abundant in North America’s shady woodlands, goldenseal’s wrinkled, electric yellow root was a popular Native American remedy. The Cherokee used it to soothe inflammation. The Iroquois washed sore eyes with it. Clarke of the Lewis and Clarke expedition team was one of the first people to write about Native Americans using goldenseal.

After golden seal use was adopted by settlers in the 1700s, it quickly became popular as far afield as European medical circles. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, doctors prescribed it to treat chronic infections.

Scientific Back Up
Goldenseal root contains two alkaloids, hydrastine and berberine, both potent natural antibiotics and inflammation fighters. Bearing this in mind, one can see why it was used to treat all kinds of bacterial infections, from the nose all they way to the urethra! It kills the bugs and the inflammation bugs cause.

Historically speaking, its primary use was in chronic infection. Is there any evidence to support this use? The answer is yes. Bacteria alter the body to make it a more hospitable environment for themselves and other bacteria. Once you’ve had one infection, it’s easier to get a second. There is evidence that golden seal reverses these changes and makes the body less hospitable to bacteria. The cycle of chronic infection ends!

Herbalists Use It To…
KO chronic urinary tract infections.
Urinary tract infections are often chronic. Certain women get one after another. Herbalists find that when golden seal can stop the cycle. It must be used for several month for this effect to be felt. Herbalists recommend it for all chronic infections of the reproductive tract, cervicitis, vaginitis, leucorrhea, cystitis, prostatitis, included.

Sock it to a sinus infection
Sinus infections are a special form of hell! They cause pain, headache, and a feeling of fatigue. Life is miserable when you have a sinus infection. Herbalists find that when used continuously, for upwards of a year, golden seal clears these infections.

Tackle Tonsillitis
There is nothing fabulous about having your tonsils ripped out at age of 35. Herbalists say this can sometimes be avoided if golden seal is called to the case. Long used to clear the chronic tonsillitis, golden seal, regularly used, makes a huge difference. In this instance, golden seal is used as a gargle several times a day for several months.

Shopping Tips
Beware the charlatan! The only medicinal part of golden seal is the root. Avoid all products made of other parts of the plant. Avoid products that do not indicate which part of the plant is used. Read labels carefully to make certain the product does not contain other herbs. Only buy products that state they contain 100% golden seal root!

Golden seal is expensive so prepare yourself for this fact. If you find a cheap golden seal product there is something wrong.

Warnings
Avoid goldenseal during pregnancy. Because it stimulates the involuntary muscles of the uterus, it can cause premature contractions.

Alternatives
Echinacea (Echinacea angustifolia)
Maitake (Grifola frondosa)

Chapter from “Backyard Medicine Chest”

Sinus troubles

Get me a gun, I’m blowing those sinuses to kingdom come.

Hydrastis canadensis

Americans dropped 350 million dollars in 1993 for over the counter nose sprays to dry up their noses! More exactly to dry up their sinus passages which are the parts of the body that make it difficult to breath through your nose. Billions are spent each year on assorted products, such as anti-biotics and steroid sprays, all aimed at making it possible to breath though those two little holes located in the middle of our face. Though nasal sprays are the usual treatment for the condition, a fairly well known plant, golden seal, mounts a serious challenge to the over the counter medications available.

Golden seal is a native american plant found growing in Canada and the Eastern half of the United States . A member of the ranunculaceae family it can be found growing in the deep woods under forest cover. Golden seal and its bright yellow root were used in domestic medicine by the native Americans long before the white man made his way to the continent. The Indigenous people were using golden seal to treat problems with the mucous membrane, whether in the gut, urinary system, or respiratory tract. They found that in any case where there was inflammation golden seal would bring swollen tissue back down to a comfortable size. A sinus migraine stems from swollen sinus passages and as such this woodland plants ability to shrink tissues is of interest to the sinus sufferer.

Sometimes the scientific names of a plants give us a hint as to something about the plant, as in the case of licorice, it literally means sweet root. In other cases the scientific name doesn’t mean a damn thing, as is true with golden seals official tag. Hydrastis canadensis . The hydrastis part refers to water as in hydroponics. I have heard it said that golden seal is called hydrastis as it tones the mucous membranes which produce watery secretions, I think its a bit of a stretch if you ask me. The second name, canadensis, refers to the fact that the plant is native to Canada , which is a little more plausible. The plant looks more like a member of the raspberry family than the buttercup family to which it belongs. Indeed it produces a fruit that resembles a raspberry. The golden seal fruit is reported to be rather nasty tasting-an unknown fruit for good reasons. Though your eye might be deceived into thinking it was a malformed raspberry, apparently your tongue would not.

The native Americans used golden seal as both war paint and as an on-the-run war medicine. War is a messy proposition, particularly when we are dealing with tomahawks, hatchets, and arrowheads. The natives used it to reduce inflammations that resulted from mechanical injury. All sorts of inflammations went down when treated with golden seal tea and the White medical community took note of the practice and made good use of it. One doctor from the last century said this of it, “It is also employed by Dr. J. T. Wells as a remedy for inflammations , for which purpose he considers it highly valuable. Used both internally and externally, in powder or decoction. A decoction of the golden seal is also a very valuable remedy as a wash for sore eyes. It is likewise highly probable that is may be found useful as an external application to ulcers, as Rafinesque says, the Indians use it for sore legs, and many external complaints as a topical tonic.” Domestic Medicine” Horton Howard, 1879. Eventually the doctors of the day realized that it would make a sinus infection go away. What we know now is that a sinus infection is caused by inflamed tissue and what makes golden seal work on an arrow head wound will make it work for an inflamed sinus passage.

The colonials learned of golden seals medicinal attributes early in their stint in America and by 1760 it had been introduced into England and could be seen growing at Kew gardens and other English botanical gardens in the last century. Some medicinal plants are commercially raised and others are collected from the wild. Once familiar with the plant as medicine a demand was created and much golden seal was collected from the North American woodlands and shipped to London town. By 1850 a lot of golden seal was being sent over to Europe and the herbs popularity lead to a depletion of the woodland stock fairly quickly. The demand was so great in 1905 that the American Department of Agriculture suggested farmers start raising it instead of planting traditional food crops. It is estimated in that year alone 300,000 pounds of golden seal were shipped over seas. Due to the scarcity of the drug and the demand outstripping the supply, golden seal was an expensive herb.

Golden seal is a woodland plant and plants that inhabit the woods are never easy to grow- they tend to be very particular about where they are willing to thrive. One woodland plant I have worked with will grow on east side of mountain but never the west side. Woodland plants tend to be extremely adapted to one sort of environment and not very adaptable to others. Commercially golden seal has to be grown under shade and in a very specific sort of soil. These two features add substantially to the cost of setting up a plantation.

We use much more golden seal today than the medical community did in the 1099′s and there is less in the wild to be collected and agricultural labor is even more expensive today. All this to prepare you, golden seal is not inexpensive. But either is being out of work. As far as herbs go golden seal is quite pricey, but compared to over-the-counter medications its comparable or even cheaper. Unlike over the counter medications that only deal with the problem once it exists, golden seal can help you to avoid the problem in the first place. I think being able to skip the pleasure of sinus migraines is worth just about any price.

Though there are more and more sinus infections, it is not a new thing in the least. One of the reasons golden seal was so popular in the last century was because doctors noted that it handled the problem with great efficacy. “It is a very good remedy in chronic inflammation of the throat after tonsillitis or any acute attack with unnatural secretions from the part. For ulcerations after tonsillitis apply colorless hydrastis. Golden seal is a good agent in the treatment of nasal catarrh, with a discharge of thick, tenacious mucous, associated with an almost constant frontal headache. Use here a weak solution of hydrastine, or preferably one part of the colorless hyrdrastic to five or six parts water. Inject and use internally.” Harvey felter MD. 1901

In searching the world of old herbals I found a rather amusing description of a sinus infection, one that the sufferer will no doubt relate to. ” There is a loss of smell, a feeling of dryness, irritation and tenderness in the nasal fossae, the breath is hot and offensive, the disagreeable odor not being perceptible to the patient. There is habitual picking at the nose to remove the accumulated crusts which seem to fill the cavities and obstruct respiration. Epistaxis, neuralgia, and a dull headache, are frequently symptoms. The mucous membrane is red and has a shining, glazed appearance. The disease in not fatal, does not, apparently, shorten life, but is exceedingly chronic. ” Lyman Watkins.MD. 1900. Indeed the disease is not fatal, but the habitual picking of the nose can mean social death

People that have never had a sinus migraine should have no opinion on the matter- it is a special hell reserved only for the initiated. Its amazing that a body part so small as a sinus can cause a person so much pain-but they can and do debilitate millions of persons each week. First of all what is a sinus and how is it that they can be such a bother. Sinuses are essentially little air pockets scattered in the face allegedly placed there to lighten the whole structure up, ie the face. They are connected to the respiratory tract and are lined with mucous membranes and this is where the fun starts. The mucous membranes are sensitive little tissues and when irritated they produce mucous. The problem with the sinus is two fold, firstly they dont drain well and once mucous is produced in them it tends to ge stuck. Some peoples faces are constructed better than others when it comes to draining sinuses. If you are prone to sinus infections chances are yours dont drain that well.

Secondly mucous is a perfect growth medium for bacteria and once it is produced and lodged in the sinus, infection rapidly sets in. This is the time when you end up in bed with a gun to your head. More over, the head, hand, and feet are completely packed with nerves endings- receptors meant to collect data about the environment and ship them to the brain for review. How loaded is the face with nerves? Buttocks tissue has one nerve ending per 10,000 muscle fibers. The face has about one nerve ending per 5 muscle fibers. This means the face is simply loaded with two things, nerves and sinuses. When you have a problem, like a sinus infection, you really feel it. Its hard to concentrate when you have a tooth ache for the same reason.

Moreover, once you get a sinus infection they are hard to get rid of due to another physiological fact. The sinus passages are largely avascular, which means they don’t have a lot of contact with blood vessels. The blood vessels are responsible for shipping the undercover immunity agents out to infection sights to kill bacteria when they attempt to set up shop. Because the sinus passages dont have a lot of blood contact, the killer cells of the immunity system cant get in there to destroy bacteria as easily. This is also why anti-biotics aren’t that effective at ending a sinus infection. The anti-biotics are carried by the blood and the drug cant get to the sight of the infection.

Sinus infections are a widespread problem and people spend a lot of money dealing with them as taking to our beds isn’t the option it used to be. Like the rest of the respiratory tract the sinus have access to the outside world and as such are very prone to irritation and infection. If you get stuck behind a black smoking spewing city bus and the exhaust fills your sinus passages you are guaranteed to have some pissed off sinuses and they will act up. The increase in pollution has made the nightmarish sinus infection a common experience.

All congestion related conditions are made better with golden seal, especially problems with the sinuses for several reasons. Firstly its constituents tone the mucous membranes themselves, improving their health. More over other elements are anti-microbial and if the inflammation is due to bacterial infection the golden seal will indeed kill the infection. The root of the plant contains the following chemicals; isoquinoline alkaloids,(hydrastine, berberine, berberastine, canadine,candaline, hydrastine.)fatty acids, resin, phenolic acids, meconin, chlorogenic acid, phytosterins, volatile oil. Herbalists and researchers alike have found the herb to be anti-catarrhal, anti-inflammatory, ant-microbial, astringent, and expectorant as result of these chemicals. Net result, golden seal will clean up a sinus problem.

When dealing with herbal medicine we always try to eliminate the problem before it takes hold and the sinus dilemma is a classic example of this. Since the production of mucous starts the whole machine of a sinus infection in motion, the ultimate goal will to avoid this happening. Little known but common causes of mucous production are dairy products and the over consumption of complex carbohydrates. If you really are tired of sinus infections remove all dairy products from your diet. the minute you take them into your body your mucous membranes start pumping out mucous and if you have sinus that dont drain, it is going to get stuck in them and you know what happens next. If your sinuses don’t work properly and are inclined to back up the last thing you want to do is to tempt fate- and eating the milk of a cow does just that. The dairy industry will probably place bombs in my garden but for sinus sufferers dairy products are a disaster. As well people that eat too many carbohydrates tend to have an over production of mucous. If you have bad sinuses, try to keep bread and other starchs to a minimum. These are precautionary measures, but watching out for these two things will make a difference in aborting the sinus cycle.

All the avoids aside, between industrial pollution and pollen many of us will still have sinus problems. Even here early detection and awareness can lead to the prevention of a full blown infection, that is using our next plant, golden seal. Remember, first the linings of the sinuses get irritated, then they produce mucous, then you get the infection. The time to act is when they get irritated and before they start pumping out mucous.

The key to using golden seal is to use it early and use it heavy. Dont wait until you are habitually picking your nose , the time to use golden seal is well in advance of the congested stage in the game. Most sinus sufferers have noticed that before congestion sets in the sinus passages will actually have a burning sensation going on in them. Some days later the swelling and congestion occurs. This burning indicates that something has irritated the sinus passages and they aren’t very happy about it. Golden seal is a tonic to the mucous membranes which means that when the are irritated taking the herb will make them feel a little happier. By toning them when they are irritated you can generally avoid them responding to the irritant with a huge mucous production. No mucous production, no infection, and this means no pain! When the burning sensation sets in get out the golden seal.

The bad news is that this herb tastes like something brewed up in hell to quench the thirst of new arrivals. If you can get a cup down your throat you are a better woman than I. This one should be taken in pills, you can buy the herb ground and pill it yourself or buy the herb already in pills. If you make your own pills I highly recommend you do not lick your fingers when you are through. One word of warning when it comes to buying golden seal. Just because people work in herbal medicine or the industry doesn’t make them honest people. I say this because I have noticed a proliferation of golden seal pills that are made out of the herb instead of the root . The leaf is worthless, the effective bit of the plant is the root. Of course there is a lot of leaf available because when you harvest the root the leaves are just hanging out there with nothing to do. Some clever little business person must have seen these leaves going to waste and they thought, why not package the leaves in bottles with big letters that say GOLDEN SEAL and in little letters, herb . Don’t be mislead, you want golden seal root and nothing else.

Getting your supply
1. Purchase the roots, ground, at a reputable nature food store. Remember you want the roots and not the leaves and the powder should be yellow and very bitter to taste. Because of the expense of the herb there is much sophistication and adulteration going on, which means people selling stuff that is not really golden seal. Hence the buy it from a reliable source.
2. Collect it from the wild. Ha, Ha, Ha. I have been walking the woods of the East Coast of the United States for years now and have yet to find so much as a single plant growing. It has been hunted to the point of extinction and you can find some you are doing pretty well. It is not a protected plant as of yet so you wont be breaking any laws by snatching it. Ethically, you are on your own with this one. We never use members of the ranunuculus family in the raw state as when raw they contain chemicals that aren’t good for your body. In the drying these substances are destroyed, so dry the roots well before using them.

Chapter from My PhD Thesis

Part Used: Root

Chemical Constituents: Significant phytochemicals include berberastine, berberine, canadaline, canadine, corypalmine, hydrastine, hydrastinine, and xanthopucine. (14)

History
Hydrastis canadensis is found growing in shady woods and damp meadows throughout the United States and Canada . It was once a common plant, however, over harvesting has decimated wild Hydrastis populations.

First used by Native Americans and then by the early Colonials, the drug was known to the Thomasonian physicians. When the Eclectics began working with the drug, its uses were very limited. In 1848, Wooster Beach said this of it in his Medical and Botanical Dictionary. “ Hydrastis canadensis; tonic, antibilious, stomachic .” (1) It would be fair to say that at the beginning of the movement, knowledge of the drug was rudimentary. At the end of the movement, the Eclectics had learned much about the drug. In example, the 1898 edition of King’s Dispensatory contains 12 full pages dealing with the drug. (6)

Eclectic Use (1–13)
Actions
Powerful tonic, laxative, detergent, stomachic tonic, digestive restorative, stomachic, alterative, antispasmodic, diuretic, resolvent, antiseptic, restorative, influences mucous membranes with which it comes into contact, reduces mucous secretion, increases mucous secretion, strengthens circulation and nutrition, stimulates the respiratory and circulatory apparatus, increases tone and power, increases secretion of salivary glands, acts on the mucous and glandular structures, increases capillary blood pressure, increases peristalsis.

Indications
“Hydrastis is specifically indicated in catarrhal states of the mucous membranes, when unaccompanied with acute inflammation. An apparent exception to this is in acute purulent otitis media, in which it is said to act better than in chronic conditions; gastric irritability; irritation of parts with feeble circulation; muscular tenderness and soreness, worse under pressure or on motion; passive hemorrhages from uterus and other pelvic tissues; skin diseases depending on a gastric abnormality, indicating Hydrastis.” (7)

General
Erysipelas, malaria, protracted fevers, intermittent, remittent fevers, tuberculosis, syphilis, typhoid fever, diseases of the mucous surfaces, mucopurelent secretions, digestive complaints of chronic disease or following severe disease, convalescence from diseases having excess mucous discharges or haemorrhage, convalescence from general debility, inflammatory affections, nervous prostration, prostrating night sweats, diphtheria.

Cardiovascular
Haemorrhage from uterine fibroids (myomata), congestive dysmenorrhoea, haemorrhage in virgins, persisting even after the use of the curette; haemorrhages from subinvolution, endometritis, metritis, parametritis, cicatrices, stenotic conditions, and climacteric, haemorrhoid, and other haemorrhages.

Digestive
Syphilitic ulcerations of the nasopharyngeal passages, sore throat, ulcerated or apthous varieties of tonsilar, pharyngeal, and retropharyngeal catarrh, subacute and nasopharyngeal catarrh where the mucous membranes are dry and parched, secretions altered in quantity and character, catarrhal hypertrophy with profuse discharge and thickening of Schneiderman’s membrane, tonsillitis, ulceration of the mouth and fauces, dyspepsia, chronic affections of the mucous coats of the digestive tract, torpid liver, chronic diarrhoea, chronic dysentery, constipation, gastrointestinal irritation, chronic gastritis, chronic irritation of the stomach with altered secretion, the worst and most persistent forms of dyspepsia, anorexia, indigestion, general debility arising from a languid or atonic state of the stomach, atonic stomach, poor appetite, disordered states of the digestive system of the functional variety, subacute and chronic disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, apthous stomatitis, catarrhal states of the intestines and gall ducts, duodenal catarrh, obstinate constipation, enfeebled states of the alimentary canal of infants, enfeebled states of the digestive tract following severe attacks of diarrhoea, dysentery, and debilitating maladies, gall stones.

Endocrine
Cancer or scirrhous of the breast, painful soreness of the mammary gland during menstrual period, goitre developing at puberty or during pregnancy.

Genito-urinary
Gleet, gonorrhoea, leucorrhea, spermatorrhea, inflammation and ulceration of the mucous coat of the bladder, second stage of gonorrhoea, cervical erosions with papillary vegetation’s, menorrhagia, metrorrhagia, intra-uterine growths.

Musculoskeletal
Muscular debility, altered states of the muscles, particular smooth muscle, myalgia tenderness and soreness, masked by rest but aggravated my motion, myalgia affections reflexing from uterine, rectal, or prostatic problems, muscular pains reflexing from uterine troubles.

Nervous
Diseases of the eye, opacity of the cornea, forms of ophthalmic disease, superficial affections of the eye, ciliary blepharitis, conjunctival inflammations, superficial corneal ulceration’s, trachomic lids, aural diseases, purulent inflammation of the middle ear, acute and chronic middle ear inflammations, eczema of the aural canal.

Respiratory
Rhinitis, tuberculosis.

Skin
Diseases of the skin, stubborn cases of eczema of the scrotum, eczema depending upon digestive disturbances, acne, seborrhoea sicca or oleosa, acne rosacea, lupus, sycosis, boils, carbuncles, ulcers, dependent upon gastric causes, eczematous ulceration around the outlets of the body, cancer, ulcers or fissures within the rectum.

The drug from Selye’s perspective

State of Resistance
The drug was used to raise resistance to typhoid fever, catarrhal, follicular, glandular pharyngitis, tonsillitis, diphtheria, gonorrhoea, erysipelas, intermittent, remittent, and protracted fevers, malaria, debility, exhaustion from acute disease, convalescence from disease involving excessive mucous secretion or haemorrhage, inflammatory affections, goitre developing at puberty or during pregnancy (multiple endocrine dysfunction?), chronic skin disease, tuberculosis, and syphilis.

State of Exhaustion
The drug was used when resistance failed and State of Exhaustion set in. This could be chronic disease, which slowly eroded vitality, or severe acute disease, which overwhelmed it. The signs of State of Exhaustion, remedied by this drug included debility, diseased mucous surfaces, gonorrhoea, cervical erosions and papillary vegetation, digestive complaints, enfeebled state of the digestive tract, diarrhoea, dysentery, gastric acidity, nervous prostration, prostrating night sweats, ulceration of nasopharyngeal passages, apthous ulceration, haemorrhage, capillary abnormalities, muscular debility, ulceration around outlets of the body, ulcers and fissures, diseases of the eye, blepharitis, conjunctival inflammations, corneal ulceration, boils, carbuncles, temperature abnormalities, and wasting.

Adaptation Energy
From Selye’s perspective, the drug was used to augment the GAS, which suggests it increases adaptation energy. Evidence to this effect includes the following. The drug was used to increase resistance to a collection of acute and chronic infections. It was used when State of Exhaustion set in to normalise the physiological abnormalities associated with that state. Indeed, the most severe image of State of Exhaustion , night sweats, ulcerated outlets of the body, and wasting, were remedied with the drug.

Brekhman’s Adaptogen Criterion
An adaptogen should be innocuous and cause minimal disorders in the physiological functions of an organism.

The drug is reported to be innocuous both in Eclectic and contemporary literature. (1–15)

The action of an adaptogen should be non-specific i.e. it should increase resistance to adverse influences of a wide range of factors of physical, chemical, and biological nature.

Clinically, the drug was used to increase resistance to microbial infections (typhus, Streptococcus, diphtheria, Gonococcus, Staphylococcus, malaria, and tuberculosis). It was used to increase resistance to hyper and auto immunity (seasonal catarrh/blepharitis). (1–13)

Experimentally, compounds in the drug have been shown to increase resistance to bacteria, Chlamydia, cholera, conjunctivitis, bacterial endotoxins, escherichia, Giardia, gonorrhoea, Leishmania, malaria, amoebas, plasmodium, pneumonia, Shigella, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, syphilis, trachoma, tuberculosis, tumours, Candida, fungus, parasites, worms, vibrio, free radical damage, tumour formation, and cancer. (14)

An adaptogen may possess normalising action irrespective of the direction of the foregoing pathological changes.

Clinically, the drug was used to remedy the physiological perversions associated with State of Exhaustion (ulceration and abnormalities of the skin and mucous membrane, digestive disturbances, diarrhoea, constipation, hyperacidity, capillary abnormalities). Virtually every noted perversion associated with State of Exhaustion was seen to be normalised by this drug. (1–13)

Experimentally, compounds found in the drug have been shown to normalise aggregation abnormalities, diarrhoea/dysentery, oedema, histamine short fall, inflammation abnormalities, ischemia, myalgia, kidney abnormalities, fever, over active secretion, ulceration, cholesterol abnormalities, blood sugar abnormalities, immune depression, leukocyte shortfall, liver inactivity, prostaglandin over production, and stomach abnormalities. (14)

Discussion
The drug exhibits properties consistent with Brekhman’s definition of an adaptogen. It is innocuous, it raises resistance to a wide spectrum of biological threats, and it normalises physiological function.

Hydrastis canadensis is a drug brought to the fore by the Eclectic medical movement. When they began working with it, it was used for a short list of purposes. By the time the movement came to an end, it was used for hundreds of purposes.

However, close scrutiny of the drug reveals it was used to treat patients either resisting a stressor or those that had lost the ability to resist a stressor. In the current environment, health care workers are inclined to cherry pick the Eclectic conditions remedied by the drug (i.e. digestive disturbance, mucous membrane abnormalities, etc.) rather than see these uses in the greater context. The drug was used when physiology became disturbed due to State of Exhaustion . It was used in digestive disturbance, but most usually when the digestive disturbance was a sign of constitutional collapse.

Potential Clinical Applications
When resistance is threatened, and State of Exhaustion is either imminent, or in place, the drug may have a role. This is especially the case if mucus membrane abnormalitys are a prominent sign.

Future research
• Hydrastis canadensis and its effects on the GAS. The drug should be tested out in the animal model to determine its specific effects on the GAS.
• Hydrastis canadensis and resistance to infection. Historically the drug was used to increase resistance to a broad spectrum of microbial infection. Experimentally, it has been shown to have the same capacity. Its role in increasing resistance to infection should be examined.
• Hydrastis canadensis and State of Exhaustion . Clinically, the drug was used to remedy the signs of State of Exhaustion . Experimentally, the drug has been shown to normalise many
of the wrongs associated with State of Exhaustion . Its role in State of Exhaustion should
be examined.
• Hydrastis canadensis and autoimmune disease. The drug was used to bolster individuals struggling to resist autoimmune disease. Its role in raising resistance to these diseases should be examined.
• Hydrastis canadensis and Cystic Fibrosis. Clinically, the drug was used to correct mucous hyper-secretion and infections built upon mucous hyper-secretion. The drug should be examined for ability to increase resistance in Cystic Fibrosis patients.

Eco-availability
The drug is available. Supplies in the wild have dwindled but farming techniques are improving.

References
• King, John. The American Eclectic Dispensatory. Moore , Wilstach, and Keys. Cincinnati . 1854. P. 544.
• Scudder, J. M. Specific Medication and Specific Medicines. Revised. Fifth Edition. Wilstach, Baldwin and Company. Cincinnati . 1874. P. 155.
• Scudder, J. M. The American Eclectic Materia Medica and Therapeutics. Published by the Author. Cincinnati . 1883. P. 439.
• Scudder, J. M. The Eclectic Family Physician. Twenty first edition, fifth revision. Two volumes in one, with appendix. John K. Scudder. Cincinnati . 1887.
• Watkins, Lyman. An Eclectic Compendium of The Practice of Medicine. John M.Scudder’s Sons. Cincinnati . 1895. P. 439.
• Felter, Harvey Wickes and Lloyd, John Uri. Kings’ American Dispensatory. Volume one and Volume two. Ohio Valley Company. Cincinnati . 1898. P. 1020.
• Webster, HT. Dynamical Therapeutics—A work devoted to the Theory and Practice of Specific Medication with special references to the newer remedies. Webster Medical Publishing Company. Oakland . Second Edition. 1898. P. 266, 354, 440, 484, 522, 547, 584, 626.
• Felter, Harvey. Syllabus of Eclectic Materia Medica and Therapeutics. Compiled from notes taken from the lectures of F.J.Locke. Edited with pharmacological additions by H.W.Felter. Second edition, with appendix. Scudder Brothers Company. Cincinnati.1901. P. 156.
• Peterson, F.J. Materia Medica and Clinical Therapeutics. Published by the Author. Los Olivos , California . 1905. P. 105.
• Fyfe, John William. Pocket Essentials of Modern Materia Medica and Therapeutics. The Scudder Brothers Company. 1903. P. 147.
• Lloyd, JU. History of the Vegetable Drugs of the Pharmacopoeia of the United States . Bulletin number 18: pharmacy number 4. P. 48.
• Ellingwood, Finley. American Materia Medica, Therapeutics, and Pharmacognosy. Ellingwood’s Therapeutist. Chicago . 1919. P. 196.
• Lloyd, John Uri. Origin and History of all the Pharmacopoeial Vegetable Drugs, Chemicals and Preparations. Volume 1: Vegetable Drugs. The Caxton Press. Cincinnati . 1921. P. 164.
• Dr. Dukes Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. Agricultural Research Service. USDA.
• Lloyd Brothers. Dose book of Specific Medicines. Lloyd Brothers. Cincinnati . 1907. P. 152.

Notes from the Eclectic Physicians

1854: JOHN KING – HYDRASTIS CANADENSIS – GOLDEN SEAL
Properties and Uses – This remedy is peculiar to Eclectics, and ranks among their most valuable agents. It is a powerful tonic, at the same time exerting an especial influence upon mucous surfaces and tissues with which it comes in contact. Internally, it is successfully adminstered in dyspepsia, chronic affections of the nervouse coats of the stomach, erysipela, remittent, intermittent, and typhoid fevers, torpor of the liver, and wherever tonics are required. In conjunction with Geraniin it forms a very efficient remdy in chronic diarrhea and dysentery. In some instances it proves laxative, but without any astringency; and seems to rank in therapeutical action between rhubarb and bloodroot. Externally, and as a tropical application, the decoction or tincutre proves a superiod remedy in all chronic mucous inflammations. In some cases of opacity of the cornea, as well as in other forms of opthalmic disease, I have found the following preparation more efficacious than the usual caustic solutions: Mix together two parts of decoction of Hydrastis, and one of the saturated tincutre of Aralia Spinosa, and apply to the eye with a camel’s hair pencil, two or three times a day . The decoction of hydrastis to be made by evaporating a strong decoction of the root to the consistence of mucilage or syrup.

It has been used in opthalmic diseases, with much success in the following form: Tincture Capiscum two fluidrachms, tincture Hydrastis three fluidrachms, Olive Oil two fluidounces; shake well together each time before using, and apply with camel’s hair pencil. A strong decoction of two parts of hydrastis, and one of geranium maculatum, is very valuable in gleet, chronic gonorrhea, and leucorrhea, used in injection; it is likewise of much benefit in incipient stricture, spermatorrhea, and inflammation and ulceration of the internal coat of the bladder. Ulceration of the internal coat of the bladder has been cured by the decoction of Hydrastis alone. It must be injected into the bladder. Combined iwth Caulophllum, in strong decoction, and sweetened with honey, it is a superior remedy in all ulcerations of the mouth and fauces, both as a gargle or wash, and taken internally. The peculiar action of this agent on mucous tissues, noticed some sixteen years ago, since which I have successfully continued its use in inflammation and ulceration of thebladder, diseases of the eye, dyspepsia, etc. Prof R S Newton, to whom I made known in valude in these disease, has also used it with a success similar to my own. When taken in very large doses, I have known the decoction as Golden Seal to produce excessive secretion from the mucous surfaces of the mouth and nose, so much so, that the secretions were removed in the patients in long, tenacious shreds or pieces. Dose of the powder from ten to thirty grains; of the tincture, from one to two fluidrachms of the hydro-alcoholic extract, from two to five grains.

1874: Scudder: (tonic)
I will give the Hydrastis a brief notice, as it is in such general use for all the purposes of a tonic that my readers know as much about it as I do. It improves the appetite and facilitates digestion; but beyond this it relieves gastro-iontestinal irritation.

Its topical action, wherever applied, is that of a tonic, strengthening the circulation and nutrition. It is in common use for these purposes in diseases of the skin, diseases of the eyes, and diseases of mucous surfaces.

As a stomachic and tonic, I like the action of the finely powdered root, as well as the more costly preparations. Indeed, in most cases, I would prefer this, in equal quantity, to the Hydrastine.

A tincture made with Alcohol of 30degree will be found a good preparation. It is more convenient for carrying, and added to water, gives a pleasant stomachic. A very good prescription would be: R Tincture of Hydrastis, 3ij.; Tincture of Nux Vomica, gtts. xx.; Water, eiv. A teaspoonful every three or four hours.

The Sulphate of Hydrastia is (when properly made) soluble in water in the proportion of four grains to the ounce. It makes a valuable collyrium in chronic conjunctivitis, or the latter stages of the acute.

It is also an admirable injection in the second stages of gonorrhoea, and in gleet.

1883: Scudder
The root of hydrastis canadensis ‑ U.S. Preparations: Powdered Hydrastis. Tincture of Hydrastis. Hydrastine. Dose: Of the powder, grs. ij. to grs. x. Of the tincture, gtt. j. to gtt. x. Hydrastine, gr. 1/8 to gr. 1/2.

Therapeutic Action: The Hydrastis, is tonic, stomachic, detergent, and laxative. It is an agent extensively employed by Eclectics, and with the greatest advantage. It seems passing strange that our Allopathic brethren have not yet their eyes open to its importance, as we believe that for the fulfilling of some indications it has no substitute.

It is a very mild, certain and permanent tonic. None with which we are acquainted exert a more decided and congenial tonic influence upon the stomach and digestive organs. In anorexia, indigestion, and general debility, arising from a languid or atonic state of the stomach, it is unsurpassed, restoring tone to the stomach, promoting the appetite, and acting as a general restorative.It may also be employed in those cases of chronic gastritis and chronic irritation of the stomach with altered secretion, which constitute the worst and most persistent forms of dyspepsia.

The alkaloid itself is more soluble than its salts, but the sulphate is soluble in the proportion of four grains to the ounce of water; the phosphate, ten grains to the ounce.

Hydrastine possesses most of the tonic properties of the crude article, and may be used for the same purposes. As the dose is small and it is very soluble, it is easily dispensed. Five grains added to a glass of water makes an admirable tonic mixture, and may be given in doses of a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful.

We combine it with Podophyllin, giving both in small doses. One‑twentieth grain of Podophyllin, and one‑fourth grain of Hydrastine, make an admirable stimulant and tonic to the stomach and intestinal canal.

But it is principally as a topical remedy that we use hydrastine and its salts. It makes an admirable collyrium in the proportion of grs.j.to grs.iv. to water 3j., when there is mucopurelent secreion. It is an admirable injection in the second stage of gonorrhea in the proportion of grs.ij.to grs.x., to water 3j. It may be used in some cases of sore throat, in chronic catarrh, and in leucorrhea.

1883: Scudder: (The root of Hydrastis Canadensis – U.S. )
Preparations – Powdered Hydrastis. Tincture of Hydrastis. Hydrastine.

Dose – Of the powder, grs. ij. to grs. x. Of the tincture, gtt. j. to gtt. x. Hydrastine, gr. 1/8 to gr. 1/2.

Therapeutic Action -The Hydrastis is tonic, stomachic, detergent, and laxative. It is an agent extensively employed by Eclectics, and with the greatest advantage. It seems passing string that our Allopathic brethren have not yet their eyes open to its importance as we believe that for the fulfilling of some indications it has no substitute.

It is a very mild, certain and permanent tonic. None with which we are acquainted exert a more decided and congenial tonic influence upon the stomach and digestive organs. In anorexia, indigestion, and general debility, arising from a languid or atonic state of the stomach, it is insurpassed, restoring tone to the stomach, promoting the appetitve, and acting as a general restorative. It may also be employed in those cases of chronic gastritis and chronic irritation of the stomach with altered secretion, which constitute the worst and most persistent forms of dyspepsia.

As a topical remedy in all diseases of mucous membranes, except acute inflammation, we believe it has no equal, as it rarely, if ever, produces irritation; but, on the contrary, it appears to quiet excitement and restore normal tonicity tot he diseased parts.

The alkaloid itself is more soluble than its salts, but the sulphate is soluble in the proportion of four grains to the once of water; the phosphate, ten grains to the ounce.

Hydrastine possesses most of the tonic properties of the crude article, and may be used for the same purposes. As the dose is small and it is very soluble, it is easily dispensed. Five grains added to a glass of water makes an admirable tonic mixture, and may be given in doses of a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful.

We combine it with Podophyllin, giving both in small doses. One-twentieth grain of Podophyllin, and one-fourth grain of Hydrastine, make an admirable stimulant and tonic to the stomach and intestinal canal.

1883: Scudder (hydrastine)
Hydrastine is a brilliant yellow principle, obtained from the Hydrastis Canadensis; it forms in delicate acircular crystals. It is inodorous, and possesses rather a pleasant bitter taste. It is freely soluble in cold water, but insoluble in alcohol or ether.

1884; LLOYD; DRUGS AND MEDICINES OF NORTH AMERICA
Medical History – The root of this plant was highly prized as a dye by the North American Indians on account of its yellow coloring matter, and also for its medicinal value; but Kalm, in 1772, Cutler, in his Indigenous Vegetables, 1783, and Schoepf, in his Materia Medica Americana, 1785, overlooked it. This seems remarkable when we consider the important position that hydrastis occupied with the various tribes of Indians and with our settlers. although the Indians introduced hydrastis to the whites (see medical properties), and it has always been a domestic remedy, it was reserved for Barton to bring the plant before the medical profession. The first medical reference that we have been able to find occurs in Barton’s Collections for a Vegetable Materia Medica, 1798 (part first), wherein credit for its introduction is given the Cherokee Indians. In the third part of this work, page 13, (1804), he devotes considerable attention to the drug, and mentions the fact that it supplies us with one of the most brilliant yellow colors with which we are acquainted. From this date until the appearance of Rafinesque’s Medical Flora of the United States, 1828, nothing of importance was published in medical literature, and nothing added to Barton’s remarks. His statements were either copied verbatim or condensed by writers upon materia medica, although few gave him any credit for his work. Rafinesque next (1828) devoted considerable space to this plant, and produced a rude figure of it.

In 1833 a paper from the editor of the Thomsonian Recorder appeared in that work (Vol. I., p. 397) which was the most important communication we have been enabled to find to that date. This paper gave a synopsis of the previously ascribed values of hydrastis, and added the uses Dr. Thomson made of it and the position it occupied in Thomsonian practice.

Beach introduced hydrastis in to the first edition of his American Practice of Medicine (1833), and it has always been an important member of the materia medica of his followers.

The United States Dispensatory, first edition, 183, omitted hydrastis, but the second edition, 1834, gave it a brief consideration in the appendix.

Between this date and 1852 the standard works upon materia medica usually noticed the plant, but very briefly, and really added nothing to the preceding literature. Short extracts were usually made from the works of Barton, Rafinesque, Beach, or Thomson, the selection of authorities being usually in accordance with the affiliations of each writer. Hydrastis had, however, at this time become a recognized remedy. In 1852 Kings’s Eclectic Dispensatory appeared, and hydrastis was highly recommended as an Eclectic remedy, in the following language: This remedy is peculiar to Eclectics, and ranks among their best articles. In that work the medical uses and properties of hydrastis were prominently drawn by Prof. King, thus bringing the plant conspicuously before the Eclectic section of the medical profession. About this date interest was excited in certain products of the plant which were at that time commencing to be liberally advertised. These facts, together with frequent contributions from physicians who wrote for the Eclectic Medical Journal of Cincinnati, produced an extensive demand for the plant and its products, although this demand was almost exclusively among Eclectics. Hydrastis rapidly became more popular, however, and soon overstepped the bounds of sectionalism. In 1860 it was made officinal in the United States Pharmacopoeia.

In the Regular section of medicine, Prof. Roberts Bartholow has given considerable attention to hydrastis, as is indicated by his paper on the subject in various editions of his Materia Medica, and our readers are indebted to this author for a communication that follows regarding the uses of hydrastis. In 1862 hydrastis excited interest sufficient to a merit paper from Prof. Bentley, of England , under the heading, New American Drugs, which appeared in the pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions, 1862, p. 540, but which was mainly devoted to a consideration of the proximate principles of the plant. This is the only important foreign contribution we have in the early medical literature pertaining to this plant, although in 1873 Dr. Van der Espt presented a lengthy paper to the Royal Society of Medicine and National Sciences, Brussels, Belgium, without, however, adding any new facts; and recently the plant has excited some little attention in Germany. It has steadily grown in favor, all schools of medicine use it, and many members of each school value it very highly. The converse is also true, and many physicians neglect it, while others do not use it at all.

Medical Properties (History). – In 1798 Prof. B. S. Barton issued the first part of his Collections for an essay towards a Materia Medica of the United States. In it he writes, p. 9: I am informed that the Cherake cure it (cancer) with a plant which is thought to be Hydrastis canadensis. In the third part of his Collections, 1804, he again refers to hydrastis: The root of this plant is a very powerful bitter (p. 13) and says (p. 14): The hydrastis is a popular remedy in some parts of the United States. A spirituous infusion of the root is employed as a tonic bitter in the western parts of Pennsylvania, etc., and there can be no doubt that both in this and in other shapes, our medicine may be used with much advantage. An infusion of the root in cold water is also employed as a wash in inflammations of the eyes.

Hand (House Surgeon, 1820,) adds: It may be given in form of powder or of strong tea made by boiling , in indigestion, the secondary stages of low fevers, and all cases of weakness in general.

Rafinesque’s Medical Flora, 1828, Vol. I., pp. 253 and 254, supports the foregoing, and in addition states that they (natives) also employ it for sore legs and many external complaints as a topical tonic. Internally, in infusion or tincture, in disorders of the stomach, the liver, etc. It appears to be slightly narcotic and available in many other disorders. Some Indians employ it as a diuretic, stimulant and escharotic, using the powder for blistering and the infusion for dropsy. In Elisha Smith’s Botanic Physician, 1830, we find several compounds containing hydrastis, to-wit: Stimulating Cathartic Powders, Bone’s Bitters, and Tonic Powders. Howard’s Improved System of Botanic Medicine, 1832, p. 327, recommends it, also, in dyspepsia. Beach (1833), American Practice of Medicine, states that in connection with tonic properties it is at the same time laxative, which makes it very appropriate in dyspeptic disorders. Next, the edition of Thomsonian Recorder of 1833, p. 398, reviewed the medical properties as previously announced by others, and added to them as follows: The importance of this article, taken in teaspoonful doses, for the relief and removal of bowel complaints in children should be extensively known. It is not only a corrector of the stomach, a regulator of the bowels, and a vermifuge for children, but it is an admirable remedy for the peculiar sickness attendant on females during their periods of utero-gestation, called morning sickness. It admirably relieves stomachic oppression, nausea, and heart-burn. Of the use of hydrastis in sore eyes he writes: It is not a decoction of the dried root in boiling water that relives opthalmia, but is the freshly dug root, well cleansed and bruised, and infused in cold, soft water, that is to be particularly relied upon. Sanborn’s Medical Botany, 1835, p. 63, states that the Indians use hydrastis as a diuretic. If the root be chewed it will cure white aphtha or ulcers in the mouth. Kost (Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics) states that it is good as an application in infusion to inflammations of the mucous tissues, leucorrhoea, blenhorrhoea, etc., and is of value in erysipelas. Dunglison Medical Dictionary, 1852, p. 450) is the authority for a statement to the effect that in Kentucky hydrastis is used as an outward application in wounds.

In 1852 Prof. John King issued the first edition of his dispensatory, under the title, The Eclectic Dispensatory of the United States of America, and therein gave the medicinal uses of hydrastis a more careful review than had previously been awarded, although many of the values that early writers had ascribed to the plant were omitted as being overdrawn. The indications for the administration and use of the drug and its preparations were carefully discussed in that work, and the remedy was thereby brought ultimately before the Eclectic branch of the medical profession (see Medical History), and in consequence of its general adoption by Eclectics it was from that time generally known as an Eclectic medicine. King was first, that we can find recorded, to recommend the plant in gleet and chronic gonorrhoea, and he wrote: I have used this preparation likewise with much success in incipient stricture, spermatorrhea, and inflammation and ulceration of the internal coat of the bladder. From that time hydrastis was a popular remedy. It became officinal in 1860, and it now occupies a higher position than at any previous day, and the Homoeopathic branch of the medical profession also use it extensively, as is shown by Prof. Hale’s paper on the subject.

We have endeavored in the foregoing pages to give a plain, systematically connected record of the introduction of hydrastis into medicine, and its past uses. modern investigations have disproved many of the statements of other times, but writers still differ considerably from each other, and there is yet room for investigation . This plant is of such importance as to merit more attention than our brief medical record, and we are pleased to present the following independent papers from leading representatives of the various bodies of practitioners.

1887: Scudder:
Yellow root is one of our best bitter tonics, improving the condition of the stomach, giving the patient an appetite, and facilitating the digestive process. Under its use the patient eats more, digests his food sooner and better, and improves the strength and flesh. A very good bitters may be found by adding one ounce of finely pulverized hydrastis to four ounces of whisky and twelve of water. It should be well shaken, and taken in doses of a tablespoonful

three times a day. If iron is needed, add to the preparation one drachm of carbonate of iron.

1895: Lyman Watkins
Anorexia, emaciation, gastric acidity with excessive secretion, pain and soreness in muscles on motion or pressure, no pain when quiet.

haematuria: relaxation of the muscular coats of the arteries, anorexia, indigestion, constipation. Blood in the urine.

Indigestion, profuse gastric secretion, perverted appetite, enfeebled circulation. One drachm to four ounces water; teaspoonful three times a day.

1898: Felter and Lloyd
History – This plant is found growing in shady woods, in rich soil, and damp meadows, in different parts of the United States and Canada , but is more abundant west of the Alleghanies. From about 1847, and especially since the first appearance of the Eclectic Dispensatory of the United States (now American Dispensatory), in 1852, hydrastis has figured conspicuously among the leading Eclectic drugs, and few have been in greater esteem. This plant is well known to botanists as Yellow puccoon and Orange root. The present pharmacopoeial name, Golden seal, was introduced by the Thomsonians, who employed the root to a limited extent. It has reference both to the color of the root and to its seal-like scars produced by the death of the stalk of the plant of the preceding year. It has several other common names, some of them applicable and some being shared by other plants, one in particular, Yellow root, being the commercial drug name for Xanthorrhiza apiifolia. Some of these common names are derived from some physical characteristics of the plant; other from its therapeutic uses; while still others have reference to its resemblance to other substances. The following are some of its popular appellatives: Golden seal, Yellow puccoon, Yellow root, Orange root, Eye balm, Eye root, Ground raspberry, Indian paint, Yellow paint, Indian dye, Yellow eye, Jaundice root, Wild curcuma, Ohio curruma, Curcuma, Golden root, Wild turmeric, and Indian turmeric. In commerce, both golden seal and yellow root are the term semployed. The other names should be dropped, and only the name of golden seal, as recognized by the Pharmacopoeia, should be retained. The scientific name Hydrastis, given it by Linnaeus, on authority of Ellis, is a misnomer, derived from old English authorities, who supposed that the plant grew in boggy places, an error which also appears in Wood’s Class Book of Botany (C. G. Lloyd), whereas the plant is never found in wet or boggy situations, on prairies, or in sterile soil, but rather in rich open woodlands, preferring a hillside richly strewn with leaf mold. An attempt, which unfortunately failed, was made by Miller, in 1759, to change the name to Warneria, in honor of Richard Warner, of Woodford, Essex , England .

In our article on podophyllum, we call attention to the fact that that plant can not easily be exterminated by the advance of agriculture. With hydrastis, however, the opposite is true; the plant disappears as soon as the ground is disturbed by the settler. Once plentiful along the Ohio river banks, it is now found only in isolated spots, having suffered extermination as fast as the woodland yielded to the pioneer’s axe. At present the geographical center of the plant is around Cincinnati . But four states now grow sufficient hydrastis to make it profitable for gathering for commercial use. These are Ohio , Indiana , Kentucky , and West Virginia . There is one redeeming feature, however, in the fact that in the mountainous parts of the states in which it grows, it is not very likely to disappear soon. These districts are inhabited by a class of individuals commonly known as “white trash,” and also by negroes. They are perfectly contented to exist with the least possible exertion on their part, consequently they do not take kindly to cultivation of the soil. These virgin forests of the mountain contain an abundanc of medicinal roots, among them hydrastis. While the plow exterminates it forever, simply digging the roots, as is done by these contented, happy root diggers, will never absolutely exhaust the resources of those regions. Hence, we may hope to have a moderate supply of this drug as long as these people are left to enjoy their seclusion; but it must grow scarcer each year, and, if the demand continues in medicine, increasingly more expensive.

Hydrastis is of very rapid growth, so much so that those who are searching for botanical specimens must be on the alert, as the plant, when favored by a continuance of warm weather during May, will, in a week or 10 days, send up a stem and open its blossom. This bloom is white and small, the stamens, on account of their whiteness, being the most conspicuous portion of the flower. The stem of the plant ranges from 6 inches to 1 foot in height, forking near the top, and each part of the division thus made, bears a roundish cordate leaf, each having from 5 to 7 lobes. These leaves, after the flowering periods, often become 6 or 8 inches broad, being but partly developed at the time of flowering. The lower leaf is the larger at this time, while the smaller is sessile at the base of the flower stem, enclosing the bud, and is but partially unfolded when the flower expands. A whole patch of hydrastis, for it grows in patches in rich, hilly woods, will not remain in bloom over a week. The fruit, consisting of several drupes aggregated together, known botanically as an etaerio, matures in July. It resembles somewhat a red raspberry, though larger. Each of the drupes, which are from 8 to 10 in number, contains 1 round, shining, black seed, imbedded in a white, sweetish pulp.

Medical History, Action, and Dosage – For many years the salts of berberine and powdered hydrastis were the chief forms in which this drug was administered. At the present time these salts and the crude drug are but little used, and in this paper we shall confine ourselves principally tot he liquid preparations of hydrastis – chief among which are the specific hydrastis and Lloyd’s hydrastis. As there have been many preparations of this drug thrown on the market (since Lloyd’s was introduced), under the name “colorless hydrastis,” and accompanied by the statement that they are preparations of the white alkaloid hydrastine, it is but fair, in speaking of Lloyd’s hydrastis, that we should state that it is not merely a solution of hydrastine, which is probably the least valuable constituent of hydrastis, but a preparation containing the combined colorless constituents of the drug. It is a well-known fact, though often overlooked by those who wish to make it appear that the alkaloidal constituents of a plant are alone the valuable and active therapeutic factors, that the combination or assiciation of principles formed naturally in the plant, or held together naturally even when derived from the plant, more completely represents the crude drug than do the isolated and forcibly separated alkaloids, and that medicinal virtues are possessed by the former that can not be even approximated by the latter. Thus it is, that Lloyd’s hydrastis is much superior as a remedy, than if it were merely a fluid preparation of the white alkaloid. From some experiments made by Prof. J. A. Jeancon (Ec. Med. Jour., 1886, p. 5&6), with a concentrated solution of the associated colorless principles divested of the alkaloid, hydrastine, it was shown that marked therapeutic effects could be obtained from them alone. It acted principally as an astringent, gradually decreasing and finally arresting hypersecretion. As an intrauterine astringent he preferred it above all others. In determining its physiological effects, he administered it to animals in health, but could not observe any appreciable effect upon temperature, pulse, or respiratory apparatus. These physiological doses, however, produced constipation and anorexia. Thus, we observe, as is very frequently the case, a marked contrast between the almost negative physiological effects and the very positive therapeutic results. In this connection we can state that Prof. Lloyd has been led, from his great experience in observing the results of the uss of hydrastis, to seriously consider the advisability of excluding, to the great extent, the white alkaloid from Lloyd’s Hydrastis. Reports, unquestionably reliable, indicate that it is often irritating and objectionable.

The whole drug, including the alkaloid hydrastine, appears to stimulate the respiratory and circulatory apparatus, imparting increased tone and power. Arterial tension is augmented, and blood pressure in the capillaries increased, rendering it valuable, like belladonna and ergot, in overcoming blood stasis. Its action upon the nervous system has been compared to that of strychnine (Ellingwood), though less energetic, but more permanent. Thus the tone imparted to the heart muscle is permanent, rather than intermittent or spasmodic (ibid). The sensibility of the nerve endings is blunted by hydrastis in excessive doses, and in the lower animals large doses of the alkaloid have produced death. No such toxic action, however, has been observed upon man. Muscular nutrition is increased under the judicious administration of hydrastis, making it a valuable agent in muscular debility, and in altered states of the muscles, particularly of the unstriped variety.

It is a little singular that hydrastis was not mentioned by our earliest writers on indigenous materia medica, for it was in extensive use among certain of the aboriginal tribes of North America, being used both as a medicine and as a coloring material. Prof. Benjamen Smith Barton in his first edition of “Collections for an Essay Toward a Materia Medica of the United States ” (1798), refers tot he Cherokee use of it as a cure for cancer. Later, he calls attention to its properties as a bitter tonic, and as a local wash for ophthalmia. From that time on it was endorsed by Rafinesque, Hand, Smith, and the various writers of the botanic and of the medical reform schools. The extensive range of uses given by the foregoing writers was not included in the first edition of the American Dispensatory (1852), Prof. King evidently believing the virtues of the drug to have been greatly overdrawn. He gave, however, a careful review of its properties and uses, and thus, for the first time, it became firmly established as an Eclectic medicine. At the present time it is a great favorite with Homoeopathic practitioners and with a large proportion of Allopathic physicians. It was introduced into Homoeopathic medicine by the late Prof. E. M. Hale, M. D., who was familiar with the Eclectic uses of the plant.

Hydrastis is bitter to the taste, and induces increased activity of the salivary glands. It sharpens the appetite and aids digestion when indicated. Schatz has shown that it increases contraction of the muscular fibers of arteries without affecting other muscular tissues of the tubular organs. He has also shown that it decreases congestion of the genito-urinary tract. Rutherford, who investigated it, concluded that it was a hepatic stimulant, and in less degree stimulant to the intestinal tract. its power as a hepatic stimulant is, however, probably overrated, while as a stimulant of the gastric and intestinal mucous surfaces its action is marked. Hydrastis exerts its chief action upon the mucous and glandular structures, and to some extent, through its white alkaloid, upon the nervous system.

Hydrastis is a valuable drug in disordered states of the digestive apparatus, especially when functional in character. It is not adapted to all classes of cases, but is rather to be considered as indicated in disorders of a sub-acute character and in atonic states with increased flow of mucus. In sub-acute and chronic inflammation with free secretion it will be found to render good service. As a general bitter tonic it resembles, through does not equal calumba and gentian, but is more applicable to debilitated conditions of mucous tissues. Beginning at the mouth, its beneficial action may be traced throughout the alimentary canal. For aphthous stomatitis it is equaled only by coptis and phytolacca. It is not the remedy in this disorder when the mucous secretions are checked, but is best adapted to subacute forms, bordering on a chronic state. As a remedy for various gastric disorders it will take a leading place, especially if it be borne in mind that it is never beneficial, but on the contrary, does harm, in acute inflammatory conditions. When, however, the trouble is subacute and semi-chronic, and especially with mucorrhoea, or even secretion of pus, the drug will give good results. It is indicated in gastric irritability, relieving the irritation, and afterward restoring the tone of the parts. For years the powdered root was made into aqueous infusion, which, when cold, was employed with marked benefit, but now we have pleasanter preparations which give equally as good results without entailing the unpleasantness of swallowing a large quantity of bitter and crude medicine. Lloyd’s hydrastis has proved an excellent form of administration in cases of “ice water dyspepsia,” a diseased condition said to be peculiarly American, on account of the almost universal practice in this country of drinking ice water and iced tea. The hydrastis should be given in 10-drop doses, before each meal and at bedtime. Chronic gastritis, with increased secretion (chronic gastric catarrh), is often promptly met with this drug. It is very valuable in gastric ulcers. Several physicians have observed that it is a very useful remedy to exhibit in cases of gastric catarrh following the inordinate use of alcoholic stimulants. Prof. Bartholow, who among the “regulars,” has made extensive use of hydrastis, goes so far as to state that in sufficient doses (tincture or fluid extract), it is probably the best substitute for alcoholic beverages when it is desired to abandon the use of spirituous stimulants. This statement is ridiculed by the therapeutic editor of the National Dispensatory. However, it is certain that it is valuable in any form of gastric disorder, no matter what its origin may be, if there be irritation, or subacute inflammatory symptoms with increased secretion – a condition of atony. In chronic alcoholism it may be associated with capsicum or strychnine, or both, together with a liberal quantity of beef tea and other easily digested food, regularly administered. Small doses of hydrastis will be found indicated in that form of dyspepsia exhibiting a belching of putrescent gases, and followed by a weakness, or sensation of “goneness” in the pit of the stomach. If great irritability of the stomach is present, minute doses of the fluid preparations or of hydrastine hydrochlorate are to be preferred. When there is less irritation and great inactivity, powdered hydrastis may be used. When the larger doses are employed it should be immediately after meals.

This drug is equally as beneficial in catarrhal states of the intestines an dgall ducts. In duodenal catarrh, with jaundice, and in those forms of catarrh of the biliary passages due to accretions of inspissated bile mixed with crystallized cholesterin, the remedy will be found serviceable if continued for a considerable length of time. Hydrastis should be remembered in obstinate constipation. It is especially useful in those disordered states due to hepatic obstruction or to hepatic congestion, accompanied or not with intestinal or biliary catarrh. The constipation best met with hydrastis is that hinging on atonic conditions of the intestinal glands, which may be gently stimulated to normal activity by small doses of either the specific preparation or Lloyd’s hydrastis. Prof. King considered it a valuable tinic for enfeebled states of the alimentary tract in infants and children, and recommended it for the same purpose in convalescence from “severe attacks of diarrhoea, dysentery, and other debilitating maladies.” Local application, with the internal use of hydrastis, has been resorted to in hemorrhoids, fissured anus, ulcers and eczema of the anus, and prolapsed and ulcerated rectum, with apparent benefit.

For the use of hydrastis in respiratory affections we insert the following from a previous article: “Golden seal is a valuable local agent in affections of the nose and throat. It acts as a subastringent tonic to the parts to which it is applied. Simple catarrhal, follicular, or glandular pharyngitis is often cured by it. Syphilitic ulcerations of the naso-pharyngeal passages are relieved and often cured by it. The colorless hydrastis (Lloyd’s) has a beneficial effect in the various forms of sore throat, rhinitis, and also ulcerated or aphthous varieties of tonsillar, pharyngeal, and retro-pharyngeal catarrh. Subacute and naso-pharyngeal catarrh where the mucous membranes are dry and parched, the secretions being altered in quantity and character, is cured by it. In catarrhal hypertrophy with profuse discharge and thickening of the Schneiderian membrane, this preparation is without an equal. It should be somewhat diluted, and is never the remedy for active, inflammatory lesions” (Felter). For that disagreeable state accompanying nasal and pharyngeal catarrh, in which the mucus forms in gelatinous masses and drops into the throat, hydrastis is probably without an equal. It should be applied locally and also administered internally. Locally, it is especially serviceable in subacute forms of tinsilitis, and occasionally in diphtheria. The drug is more especially indicated in catarrhal affections of any of the mucous membranes if there be also muscular debility.

In aural and ophthalmological practice this drug is a favorite local application. In the earlier history of its use as a medicine, infusion of the root, as employed by the Indians met by Captain Lewis, in 1804 (during the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition), and solutions of berberine salts, as used by the “Eclectic Fathers,” were employed in various ophthalmias. These forms gave excellent results, the one objection to their employment being their staining qualities. At the present day these colored preparations are seldon used, but in their stead Lloyd’s hydrastis gives fully as great satisfaction therapeutically, as well as being pleasant in taste and much more cleanly as a local application. It may be employed in the proportion of about 1 part in 10 or 20 of pure water in conjunctival diseases. It is only useful in superficial disorders of the eye, having no value in intraocular affections. It is valuable in all conjunctival inflammations, particularly so in the catarrhal forms. Foltz regards it as an excellent remedy in follicular conjunctivitis. Superficial corneal ulcerations are benefited by it, and in ciliary blepharitis it may be employed with confidence. It is well, however, in the latter disorder to wash the edges of the lids thoroughly with a weak solution of potassium bicarbonate, rinse well with pure water, and lastly apply the hydrastis lotion. It has been recommended and used with a degree of success in trachomic lids; but it is not nearly so effective in this complaint as the ointment of non-alcoholic thuja. The principal use of this drug in ear diseases has been for the cure of purulent inflammation of the middle ear, provided granulations do not exist. It may be employed here in both acute and chronic inflammations, and is especially indicated where the discharge is abundant. It may be dropped in the ear, or the ear may be cleansed with water to which a quantity of the medicine has been added. About 10 drops of solution (1 to 6 or is about the proper amount to be employed when instilled into the aural aperture. Excellent results have been obtained by using it in this manner, mixed with specific hamamelis, to which water is added if too much smarting be produced. This combination has served us well in eczema of the aural canal and in irritation due to inspissated cerumen, the latter being readily softened by it.

Prof. Webster (Dynam. therap.) calls attention to the use of specific hydrastis in cases of myalgic tenderness and soreness. He regards it as indicated where the unpleasant symptoms are masked during rest but aggravated by pressure and by motion. These myalgic symptoms may be due to various causes, often resulting as reflexes from uterine, rectal, and prostatic disorders. He also includes in the category of myalgic complaints, headaches resulting from reflexes in which the scalp muscles are involved; pectoral tenderness due to lacerated cervix uteri; and the muscular pains caused by anemia, resulting from uterine, hemorrhoidal, and other hemorrhages. The dose recommended is from the fraction of a drop to 1 drop.

Taking advantage of the results of Prof. Schatz’s investigation of the action of this drug on the circulation, several physicians have employed it in hemorrhagic conditions an din pathological states upon which hemorrhages are likely to depend. Schatz found it useful in hemorrhage from uterine fibroids (myomata); congestive dysmenorrhoea; hemorrhage in virgins, persisting even after the use of the curette; hemorrhages from subinvolution, endometritis, metritis, parametritis, cicatrices, stenotic conditions, and climacteric hemorrhage. Operations and other means had failed in the cases above mentioned, but hydrastis cured. The dose administered was 20 drops of the tincture 3 times daily. Too small a dose is without this controlling power over the walls of the vessels, according to Schatz, while large doses have an effect further than is desired. It is too slow a remedy for active post-partum hemorrhage, but may be employed for the control of passive hemorrhage. It is useful in metrorrhagia. Like ergot, it may be employed for the relief of chronic cerebral hyperaemia, and other forms of cerebral engorgement. Other observers have seen its beneficial action in the cure of fungoid endometritis, lacerated cervix, and pelvic cellulitis. Locally and internally, excellent results are obtained from hydrastis in leucorrhoea, both vaginal and uterine. For gonorrhoea, Lloyd’s hydrastis probably enjoys a more extensive use as a local application than any other drug, and this use of it is not confined to Eclectic practitioners alone. For gleet it is equally as beneficial. For this purpose it may frequently be combined with aqueous thuja. Salts of zinc and lead, in very small amounts, may be added to the solution of hydrastis. If carefully employed, stricture as a result need never be feared. Other preparations of hydrastis will give good results, but their staining qualities condemn them. To Prof. John King must be accorded the first mention of this use of the drug. He also used it successfully in “incipient stricture, spermatorrhoea, and inflammation and ulceration of the internal coat of the bladder.” As a remedy for cystitis, it may be given internally, and used largely diluted to wash out the bladder. Prof. Jeancon, in ciscussing the concentrated solution of the associated principles of hydrastis (devoid of hydrastine), says: “Formerly, I used to apply locally a tampon or wad of absorbent cotton, well saturated with a solution of the double sulphate of alumina and copper, in cases of cervical erosions and light papillary vegetations. Now I apply the cotton saturated with the concentrated solution of these hydrastis substances, and find that the effect is all that can be desired. The eroded surface becomes smooth, the vegetations disappear, and a fine glistening layer of mucous structure soon makes its appearance.”

Hydrastis has been used to some extent in cutaneous diseases. Prof. Jeancon cured a stubborn case of eczema of the scrotum with it. Other cases of eczema, depending upon gastro-intestinal disturbances, have been cured by its internal exhibition alone. Acne, seborrhoea sicca or oleosa, scrofula, acne rosacea, lupus, sycosis, boils, carbuncles, and ulcers, when dependent upon gastric difficulties, have been greatly benefited and some cases cured by the internal use of the drug alone. The local use at the same time hastens the cure. Eczematous manifestations around the outlets of the body also yield to the kindly action of golden scal locally applied. It has been said to cure cancer, though this use of the drug is overrated. Still, many believe it to have a beneficial effect in prolonging life and in mitigating the severity of the disease. On this point Prof. Scudder remarks, “In some cases of cancer with sloughing o ftissues, and in malignant ulceration, no application will do more to retard the progress of the disease than an infusion of the crude article or a solution of the alkaloid (berberine). It has been claimed that the internal administration of the remedy alone will prove curative. I am satisfied that in some cases this use of hydrastis will do much to relieve pain and lengthen life, even if it does not prove curative.” Hale and others consider the long-continued use of hydrastis internally excellent in retarding scirrhus of the breast, when the tumor is hard and painful, but has not yet advanced to ulceration.

Hydrastis should be remembered in convalescence from diseases having excessive mucoid discharges, or where hemorrhage has played an important part. For malarial disorders it probably has but little to recommend it. It has been used as an anti-malarial drug, but as it has usually been employed with some of the cinchona alkaloids, the beneficial, or at least the antiperiodic effects were probably due to the latter. Hydrastis should not be overlooked, nevertheless, in convalescence from general debility, protracted fevers, inflammatory affections, and nervous prostration. Hence it is useful to combine with it capsicum, strychnine, nux vomica, iron salts, and quinine, when there are clear indications for their selection. Prostrating night-sweats are very often controlled by it. In hepatic and stomachic disorders it may be greatly aided by iris, phytolacca, bryonia, arnica, leptandra, chionanthus, and podophyllin, provided any of these are indicated. Powdered hydrastis and the extract are now seldom employed. The usual dose of specific hydrastis ranges from the fraction of a drop to 30 drops; of Lloyd’s hydrastis, from 5 drops to 1 drachm; of infusion o fhydrastis (3i to aqua Oj) from 1/2 to 2 fluid ounces; locally, Lloyd’s hydrastis, from full strength (ulcerated cervix uteri), to a dilution of 1 in 20 in water. Dose of the powder, from 10 to 30 grains; of the tincture, from 1 to 2 fluid drachms; of the hydro-alcoholic extract, from 2 to 5 grains; of the fluid extract, 10 to 60 minims; hydrastine (Eclectic), 1 to 6 grains; of hydrastinine hydrochlorate, 1/4 to 1 1/2 grains, berberine (see below), 2 to 20 grains; berberine hydrochlorate, 1 to 5 grains; berberine sulphate, 1 to 5 grains.

Specific Indications and Uses – Hydrastis is specifically indicated in catarrhal states of the mucous membranes, when unaccompanied with acute inflammation. An apparent exception to this is in acute purulent otitis media, in which it is said to act better than in chronic conditions; gastric irritability; irritation of parts with feeble circulation; muscular tenderness and soreness, worse under pressure or on motion; passive hemorrhages from uterus and other pelvic tissues; skin diseases depending on a gastric abnormality, indicating hydrastis.

1898: Webster : (Digestive System)
Golden seal possesses a long established reputation for its influence on the mucous membrane of the alimentary canal.

In apthous conditions it sometimes proves very successful, though it is not as reliable as phytolacca. It is in the cases where phytolacca and jaborandi fail that it will be liable to act most positively-cases that have passed into a semi-chronic state.

Where the vault of the pharynx is involved in a catarrhal inflammation, and there is much dropping of mucous into the throat, hydrastis should be recollected.

In gastric catarrh, and in dyspepsia with putrid eructations and sense of emptiness and “goneness” in the epigastric region, minute does of hydrastis often benefit.

It resembles chelidonium in its power of controlling catarrh of the biliary ducts and in the relief of jaundice hinging thereon.

Hughes recommends hydrastis for constipation, as Scudder does nux, the patient being ordered a single drop of the tincture in water in the morning before breakfast. This author also alludes to the use of the remedy in hemorrhoids and prolapsus ani-doubtful qualities, I am inclined to believe.

Form for Administration- The specific medicine.

Dose- From the fraction of a drop to ten drops.

In chronic cystitis attended by considerable catarrh of the mucous membrane, hydrastis is a valuable remedy. It not only acts very beneficially through the general circulation, through its affinity for the mucous surfaces, but it is also valuable on account of its topical effect, derived by the use of injections into the bladder.

Form for administration: Lloyd’s hydrastis.

Dose: from the fraction of a dose to five drops.

1898; Webster; (Muscles) – Hydrastis Canadensis

This is a very positive remedy for soreness and tenderness of the muscles. Pain and soreness of the muscles on motion or pressure, but absence of pain when these organs are at rest, is the indication for it.

Long standing cases of this kind are not uncommon, and are oftenest the result of uterine disease, though rectal or prostatic affections may give rise to them. Pectoral tenderness is a very common accompaniment of uterine laceration, these muscles being tender on pressure, and painful on motion.

In all such cases hydrastis is a valuable remedy, promising more than any other medicine for permanent relief, though the proper treatment here should include a radical removal of the exciting cause, when this is possible.

The myalgic pains accompanying anaemia the result of losses of blood from uterine hemorrhage, bleeding hemorrhoids, etc., are benefited by proper doses of hydrastis, when the remedy is persistently used.

Headaches of myalgic character are not uncommon, and here hydrastis is as reliable as in other cases mentioned – when the muscles of the scalp are involved in the reflexes that originate myalgia.

Form for Administration . – The specific medicine.

Dose . – From the fraction of a drop to a drop.

1901: Locke
Its properties are tonic, stomachic, detergent, laxative, alterative, and sometimes antispasmodic. This drug is very generally used by eclectics. We use the tincture, the powdered root, and its yellow alkaloid hydrastin, specific hydrastis, and loyds colorless hydrastis. As a tonic it is mild and unirritating.

Hydrastis is a very good drug in chronic inflammations of the mucous surfaces, with altered secretions, and in inflammatory conditions of the glandular system. In chronic atonic dyspepsia, wiht torpor of the liver, constipation, and debility, and in chronic gastritis, oene part of the colorless hydrastis to three parts of water, given in teaspoonful doses every three hours , restores the gastric mucous membrane to its natural condition. From five to ten grains may be given, or as a general stomachic tonic:

hydrastin gr.j.

aqua fl.3/5 j.M

sig: take at one dose.

It is a very good remedy in chronic inflammation of the throat after tonisilitis or any acute attack with unnatural secretions of the part. For ulceration after tonsilitis apply colorless hydrastis. It is useful in all chronic inflammations of the upper part of the throat when the tissues are relaxed, the blood vessels dilated, and the secretions abundant.

Hydrastis is valuable in cases of torpidity of the liver or stomach, given with small doses of podophyllum. This moves the bowels gently.

Hydrastis is a very good remedy for ulcerations of the outlets of the body, as fissures or ulcers in ano. Either bath the parts with an infusion or use the colorless hydrastis. In all such cases use it both locally and internally.

Let the pateint empty the bladder and inject some of this once or twice a day. In gleet it may be used alone or with some of the mineral astringents. In vaginal leucorrhea with abrasion of the os or cervix uteri use the same injection. Colorless hydrastis is one of the best remedies for gonorrhea after the active stage has passed. Employ the colorless hydrastis locally.

Golden seal is a good agent in the treatment of nasal catarrh, with a discharge of thick, tenacious mucous, assoicated with an almost constant frontal headache. Use here a weak solution of hydrastin,or preferably one part of colorless hydrastis to five or six parts water. THe later does not stain. Inject and use it internally in catarrh.

In cancer it is good as a local application and as an internal remedy. use five drops of specific hydrastis four times a day and apply a compress of cotton saturated with the infusion. the following makes a very good eye wash in eye troubles with muco-purelent secretions.

or colorless hydrastis may be used instead. Use the same in syphilitic sore throat with mucous dishcarge, and add ten drops of the specific hydrastis to our ounces of water. give a teaspoonful every two hours.

1905: Petersen – HYDRASTIS CANADENSIS
Syn – Hydrastis; Golden Seal; Yellow Puccoon

P. E. – Root

N. O. – Ranunculaceae

N. H. United States

Properties: Tonic, alterative, laxative.

Physiological action: It has stimulating properties, influencing the nervous system, similar to nux vomica. However, its action is much slower but more permanent in its results. In very large doses it may cause anaesthesia of the skin, showing its powerful action on the peripheral nerves and circulation. Convulsions have been known to result from excessively large doses.

Use: Its influence is on the nervous system and it is indicated in general relaxed condition of the system and mucous membrane. therefore of value in chronic subacute catarrhal conditions of the mucous membranes when they are relaxed, showing atony. However, its widest range is in functional disorders of the stomach. Atonic condition s of the digestive organs, catarrhal gastritis, atonic dyspepsia, hepatic congestion, catarrh of the gall ducts, prostrating night sweats. In uterine subinvolution which has menorrhagia or metrorrhagia as a result. In ulcers of the stomach it is a valuable remedy. Hydrastis stimulates the removal of excess of intra-uterine fibrous growths and is therefore of use in fibrous tumors. Of value in cancers locally and internally. In gonorrhoeal leucorrhoea it is a good local remedy used in a douche. It stimulates circulatin, respiration, imparts tone tot he muscular structure of the heart and increases arterial tension. Increases capillary blood pressure, increases peristalsis and gives tone to the gastro-intestinal tract.

1911: Fyfe
Chronic catarrhal conditions of the mucous membranes,which are relaxed, and the secretion profuse,thick, yellow, or greenish yellow, and tenacious, relaxed and atonic conditions of the mucous surfaces of the mouth and throat, ulceration or erosion of mucous surfaces ;irritation, with enfeebled circulation, imperfect recoveries from diarrhea and dysentery.

In all diseases characterized by sub-acute or chronic catarrhal conditions of the mucous membranes, whether of the stomach, intestines, bladder, vagina, urethra,uterus,bronchi or conjunctiva, the well directed use of hydrastis, both internally and locally, will always give good results. In convalescing it improves the appetite and nutrition, and acts as a good tonic when given in doses of five to twenty drips, in water or milk, three times a day. when there is acute inflammation,with arrest of secretion, it is contra-indicated. I use colorless hydrastis, and deem it fully equal to either the fluid extract or the specific medicine, and it has the additional merit of being pleasant to both the sight and taste.

Hydrastis canadensis is alterative, tonic, diuretic, laxative, resolvent, cholagogue, and antiseptic. In very large doses it produces excessive secretion from the mucous membranes of the mouth and nose, deranges digestion and causes constipation.

1911: LLOYD
Hydrastis canadensis is native to North America . Once abundant in the thick woodlands of the Central West, in the territory bordering the Ohio River from Illinois to Virginia , it is now in its native home practically exterminated. Hydrastis is known by the common names, golden seal, yellow puccoon, yellow root, and other similar expressive appellations signifying its color or applying to its nature. The root of this plant, of a rich golden yellow, like its companion, sanguinaria, which, however, has a red color, was used by the Indians as a cuticle stain, and also as a dye for their garments. Being exceedingly bitter, it was also useful in repelling insects, when mixed with grease and smeared upon the skin, and hence served a double purpose in the use of primitive man. Its first printed conspicuity came from a paper read by Mr. Hugh Martin (408) before the American Philosophical Society, 1782, published in their Transactions, 1793, under the title, “An Account of some of the principal Dyes employed by the North American Indians.” By reason of its red berry, hydrastis was also called ground raspberry . Although it had been mentioned in various medical publications the drug was held in slight repute, and was of no commercial importance until the advent of the American Eclectics, who first prepared its alkaloidal salts for professional use (388a). Its medical history dates from its use by the Indians, who introduced it as a native remedy to the earliest botanical explorers, and to settlers. Its therapeutic qualities were overlooked, however, by Kalm (350), 1772; Cutler (178), 1783; and Schoepf (582), 1785; Barton (43) first bringing it before the medical profession, 1798. He credits the Cherokee Indians for its ascribed uses, and in the third part of his work (1804) he devotes considerable attention to the drug. Rafinesque (535) (1828) states that the Indians employed it as a stimulant, and that the Cherokees used it for cancer, in which direction better remedies were to them known. The principal use of hydrastis by the Indians, however, and which afterwards crept into domestic practice, was an infusion or wash for skin diseases and for sore or inflamed eyes. It was also employed as a stimulant for indolent ulcers, and as an internal tonic. Hydrastis may be considered typical of the drugs that are employed very extensively by the medical profession, through their empirical introduction, it being recorded that even for gonorrhea the Indians discovered its utility.

Early authorities on American medical plants, such as Barton (43) (1798 and 1804). Hand (298) ( House Surgeon, 1820), Rafinesque (535), Elisha Smith (601) (1830), Kost (361) (1851), Sanborn (571), (1835), give to hydrastis considerable conspicuity, whilst Dunglison’s Medical Dictionary (203) pessimistically (1852) states that in Kentucky only it is used, and then only as an outward application, for wounds. (See Drugs and Medicines of North America, pp. 154-5 (389)).

1919: Ellingwood – HYDRASTIS, HYDRASTIS CANADENSIS
Synonyms – Golden seal, Yellow puccoon.

Preparations – specific Medicine Hydrastis, alcoholic, contains a bitter coloring principle, berberine, and the white alkaloids, hydrastine and canadine, and resinous and oily principles. Dose, from one to ten minims. Colorless Hydrastis, non-alcoholic, contains the colorless alkaloids and the inorganic salts dissolved in glycerine and water.

Extractum Hydrastis Fluidum, Fluid Extract of Hydrastis. Dose, three to twenty minims.

Extractum Hydrastis, Inspissated Extract, Extract of Hydrastis. Dose, one to five grains.

Tincture of Hydrastis. Dose, from twenty minims to two drams.

Hydrastis Pulvis, Powdered Hydrastis. Dose, from three to fifteen grains.

Berberine (Hydrastin, yellow). Dose from one-half to five grains.

Hydrastine (white). Dose, from one-tenth of a grain to three grains.

Constituents – Berberine, Hydrastine, Canadine.

Physiological Action – In its influence upon the nervous system, this agent has stimulating properties in part analogous to those of strychnine. Its influence is more slowly developed and more permanent. In extreme doses it blunts the sensibility of the terminal nerve filaments, and convulsions have resulted from its use.

It stimulates the respiration and circulation, imparting tone and increased power to the heart’s action, increasing arterial tension an dcapillary blood pressure. It influences blood stasis similarly to ergot and belladonna.

The tone imparted to the muscular structure of the heart differs from that imparted by strychnine in being permanent and not spasmodic or intermittent in character. It influences muscular structure everywhere in the system in the same manner. It stimulates normal fibrillar contractility and increased tonus, encouraging the nutrition of muscular structure. It inhibits the development of superfluous muscular tissue and abnormal growth within that structure. It is thus most valuable in altered conditions of the heart muscle.

In its influence upon the gastro-intestinal tract it is tonic, restorative and soothing in its action. It promotes the appetite, increases the secretion of the gastric and intestinal juices and conduces to a restoration of the normal condition. It increases peristaltic action and general muscular tonus in the structure of walls of the stomach and intestines.

The alkaloids have been given in sufficient quantities to produce death in the lower animals in experimental investigation, but it cannot be considered toxic in medicinal doses. It produces convulsive action, followed by decreased irritability of the vagus, the blood pressure is suddenly decreased and the heart fails in diastole.

Its elimination is comparatively active and is largely accomplished through the kidneys.

Therapy – In its therapeutic influence its widest range of action is upon the stomach, in functional disorders of that organ. It is the most natural of stimulants to the normal function of digestion. Its influence upon the mucous surfaces renders it most important in catarrhal gastritis and gastric ulceration. It supersedes all known remedies as a local, and also as a constitutional tonic when this condition is present.

In administering this remedy, if there be irritation, the fluid and less bulky preparations are preferable. If there be marked atonicity with inactivity of the stomach and lack of nerve sensibility, the powdered drug in five grain doses is the most useful. This increases the tone, reduces abnormal secretion, stimulates normal excretion, promotes the appetite and increases the quantity of the digestive juices, and thus favors the digestion. It is most excellent in indigestion in such cases, acting in a more rational manner than the digestives which have no influence beyond that immediately exercised upon the food within the stomach.

In extremely irritable conditions a solution which contains one or two drops of the specific hydrastis, or the colorless hydrastis, or in extreme cases the one-twelfth to the one-fourth of a grain of the sulphate of hydrastine or of the hydrochlorate of hydrastine is preferable to large doses of hydrastine or the powdered hydrastis. In some cases powders, or the precipitated principle, will irritate the stomach, producing weight, distress or even mild pain if the stomach is empty. In such cases it is best given after a little food has been taken, or in conjunction with the subnitrate, or the oxide of bismuth, or with a digestive if the stomach contains food.

In those cases of atonic dyspepsia, where the entire apparatus, including the liver, is stagnant and inoperative, one-fourth of a teaspoonful of the fluid hydrastis or of the colorless hydrastis dissolved in water will restore a normal condition of the glands and of the entire mucous membranes.

The agent relieves the chronic constipation of plethora or muscular inactivity in relaxed, inactive, feeble cases. Its influence is encouraged by combination with nux vomica. It overcomes hepatic congestion in such cases and catarrh of the gall ducts. It may be combined with podophyllum, leptandra or iris.

It is a most superior remedy in the atonic conditions of these organs in chronic alcoholism, and if combined with large doses of capsicum and with forced nutrition, will in great part supply the demand for alcoholics and assist in the cure of the disease. It acts as strychnine does in the cure, and may be most beneficially given in combination with that agent.

The tonic and nerve strengthening properties of this agent have long been utilized by the writer in all cases of general debility and nerve prostration, especially if associated with the conditions of the digestive and assimilative organs named. It is an admirable restorative tonic. It is demanded in convalescence from protracted fevers and debilitating inflammation, and as a general restorative after overwork, in the condition known as a complete “breaking down”.

The usual manner of prescribing it is to give a grain of hydrastine, two grains of the bisulphate of quinine, one grain of the carbonate of iron and one-fourth of a grain of capsicum in a capsule every three hours, after eating something simple, that the stomach may not be entirely empty. The improvement is remarked by the patient usually from the first. It is a simple tonic, but has no superior. In some plainly indicated cases, the quinine salt may be replaced with one-fourth of a grain of nux vomica.

The influence of the agent is certainly direct upon the central nervous system, promoting a normal circulation and increasing its nutrition. It will yet be found applicable in the treatment of cerebral engorgements of a chronic character, and in the treatment of hyperaemia of those organs, in the cases in which ergot is used.

It is valuable in from one-fourth to one-half teaspoonful doses of the fluid Hydrastis, or colorless Hydrastis, in water, in prostrating night sweats.

In its power over the nutrition of muscular structure, it is a most important remedy in many disorders of the womb. It produces contraction of the unstriped muscular fibers, slowly but permanently stimulating the removal of excess of growth. In parturition it is not so immediate or forceful as ergot, but acts mildly in the same manner. In uterine subinvolution, in menorrhagia or metrorrhagia from this cause, it is the best remedy we have.

It is useful also in post-partum hemorrhage, but is rather slow in its action when immediate results are demanded. In the incipient stage of the development of tumors within the uterine structure, or fibroid growths, it is not excelled by ergotine. It may be used hypodermically in these cases, and its results are comparatively permanent.

In the treatment of cancer or scirrhus of the breast Dr. Hale has had excellent results from the use of this remedy. He uses the mother tincture in conjunction with conium, giving five drops at a dose three or four times a day, the hydrastis before, the conium after meals. He says: “Sometimes, I mix them and give ten drops of the mixture three times a day.”

Hydrastis is directly indicated where the tumors are hard and painful; conium where they are small, hard and painless. Where the swelling is soft or undulated and painful on pressure, and pain extending into the axilla, we find phytolacca in the same doses better than either. Sometimes all three remedies are good together, and none of them is valuable in the open cancer. The remedies must be continued a long time to make a decided impression, and their effect is even increased by the same remedies being applied externally in the form of a plaster.

In all catarrhal conditions, especially if there be muscular relaxation and general enfeeblement, it is a useful remedy. It may be given internally and used locally. It is used locally in solution and is of much value as an application wash, irrigating fluid or gargle in all such catarrhal, ulcerating, aphthous, indolent and otherwise unhealthy conditions of mucous surfaces. Its application to nasal catarrh has been mentioned. It is a most useful gargle in aphthous or ulcerated sore mouth, in conditions where the gums are spongy or loosened from the teeth or bleed easily. In diphtheria and in tonsilitis as a gargle it is extremely useful.

Ten minims of a fluid preparation, to the ounce, may be used, or a solution of the hydrochlorate of hydrastine in nasal catarrh, in inflammation of the eyes and in gonorrhoea. One grain of the hydrochlorate in an ounce of rose water, with or without five grains of the sulphate of zinc, is of superior value in purulent conjunctivitis. The same preparation, diluted, is useful in gonorrhoea. Five drops of the solution in a dram of warm water is the proper strength. The colorless hydrastis in a solution with a small quantity of the potassium chlorate is sometimes superior in nasal catarrh. It is most serviceable in this condition if dilute.

It is the best of washes in leucorrhoea, whatever the cause, and it can be used freely without danger and in various strengths – from one dram to three, to the pint of hot water. It is of much service when the discharge is thick, yellow, and the membranes relaxed and feeble. In simple cases half a dram to the pint is beneficial.

It forms an excellent wash in eczema of the anus, with ulcers or fissures within the rectum. Its use may be followed with the application of a zinc ointment, with twenty-five per cent its weight of bismuth subnitrate. In mild solutions of the hydrochlorate of the alkaloid one-fourth grain to the ounce, it is serviceable in catarrh of the bladder, as an irrigating fluid.

We find in addition to the tonic influence of this remedy, that it has been used in a number of cases of gall stone, with curative results. Professor Farnum claims to have cured a number of cases with the powdered hydrastis. The cases which he regards amenable to this treatment are, first, ordinary cases of cholelithiasis, where the symptoms are transient and not severe; second, acute inflammatory cases, usually attended with fever, and catarrhal conditions of the gall ducts; third, cases ordinarily called biliary colic. Those, of course, where organic change has not taken place, or where the stones are not impacted, in the gall bladder or in the ducts. He uses it as an efficient remedy in catarrhal jaundice where there is no pain to indicate the presence of gall stones in the ducts. This is in harmony with its influence on general catarrhal conditions of the gastro-intestinal tract.

Goss claimed that it had direct catalytic power, and aided the digestion, while it corrected the biliary function. It restores the mucous lining of the gall duct, in the same manner that it influences other mucous surfaces.

Cuthberton gave hydrastis canadensis as a tonic to a pregnant woman who had a goitre of recent appearance. The goitre was promptly cured. As a result of this observation, he treated twenty-five other cases of foitre at the time of puberty, or during the pregnant state. At times when interference with the function of the reproductive organs seemed to produce reflex irritation. He claims that every case was cured by this remedy. He gave the agent from six weeks to three months, three times a day after eating. One of the patients had become steadily worse under the use of iodine, the iodides, and thyroid extract. This patient began to improve as soon as hydrastis was given, and was promptly cured with this remedy alone.

Webster calls attention to the influence of hydrastis upon the mammary gland. It has been reported as a remedy for mammary cancer, but its more satisfactory influence is upon painful fulness of the mammary gland, during the menstrual period, or for the treatment of local enlargements occurring more or less suddenly, of a benign character, either in maiden ladies or at the menopause.

There is an abundance of authority for the use of hydrastis in conjunction with conium maculatum, in the treatment of non-malignant mammary tumors. The two agents combined seem to have an influence that neither possesses alone. Two minims each of these two remedies, in the specific form, was given by Webster before meals and at bed time, in these cases, with satisfactory results. The doctor reports in detail quite a number of cases which were relieved or cured by this treatment.

1919: Ellingwood
Synonyms – Golden seal, Yellow puccoon.

Preparations – Specific Medicine Hydrastis, alcoholic, contains a bitter coloring principle, berberine, and the white alkaloids, hydrastine and canadine, and resinous and oily principles. Dose, from one to ten minims. Colorless Hydrastis, non-alcoholic, contains the colorless alkaloids and the inorganic salts dissolved in glycerine an dwater.

Extractum Hydrastis, Inspissated Extract, Extract of Hydrastis. Dose, one to five grains.

Tincture of Hydrastis. Dose, from twenty minims to two drams.

Hydrastis Pulvis, Powdered Hydrastis. Dose, from three to fifteen grains.

Berberine (Hydrastin, yellow). Dose from one-half to five grains.

Hydrastine (white). Dose, from one-tenth of a grain to three grains.

Constituents – Berberine, Hydrastine, Canadine.

Physiological Action – In its influence upon the nervous system, this agent has stimulating properties in part analogous to those of strychnine. Its influence is more slowly developed and more permanent. In extreme doses it blunts the sensibility of the terminal nerve filaments, and convulsions have resulted from its use.

It stimulates the respiration and circulation, imparting tone and increased power to the heart’s action, increasing arterial tension and capillary blood pressure. It influences blood stasis similarly to ergot and belladonna.

The tone imparted to the muscular structure of the heart differs from that imparted by strychnine in being permanent and not spasmodic or intermittent in character. It influences muscular structure everywhere in the system in the same manner. It stimulates normal fibrillar contractility and increased tonus, encouraging the nutrition of muscular structure. It inhibits the development of superfluous muscular tissue and abnormal growth within that structure. It is thus most valuable in altered conditions of the heart muscle.

In its influence upon the gastro-intestinal tract it is tonic, restorative and soothing in its action. It promotes the appetite, increases the secretion of the gastric and intestinal juices and conduces to a restoration of the normal condition. It increases peristaltic action and general muscular tonus in the structure of walls of the stomach and intestines.

The alkaloids have been given in sufficient quantities to produce death in the lower animals in experimental investigation, but it cannot be considered toxic in medicinal doses. It produces convulsive action, followed by decreased irritability of the vagus, the blood pressure is suddenly decreased and the heart fails in diastole.

Its elimination is comparatively active and is largely accomplished through the kidneys.

Therapy – In its therapeutic influence its widest range of action is upon the stomach, in functional disorders of that organ. It is the most natural of stimulants to the normal function of digestion. Its influence upon the mucous surfaces renders it most important in catarrhal gastritis and gastric ulceration. It supersedes all known remedies as a locak, and also as a constitutional tonic when this condition is present.

In administering this remedy, if there be irritation, the fluid and less bulky preparations are preferable. If there be marked atonicity with inactivity of the stomach and lack of nerve sensibility, the powdered drug in five grain doses is the most useful. This increases the tone, reduces abnormal secretion, stimulates normal excretion, promotes the appetite and increases the quantity of the digestive juices, and thus favors the digestion. It is most excellent in indigestion in such cases, acting in a more rational manner than the digestives which have no influence beyond that immediately exercised upon the food within the stomach.

In extremely irritable conditions a solution which contains one or two drops of the specific hydrastis, or the colorless hydrastis, or in extreme cases the one-twelfth to the one-fourth of a grain of the sulphate of hydrastine or of the hydrochlorate of hydrastine is preferable to large doses of hydrastine or the powdered hydrastis. In some cases powders, or the precipitated principle, will irritate the stomach, producing weight, distress or even mild pain if the stomach is empty. In such cases it it best given after a little food has been taken, or in conjunction with the subnitrate, or the oxide of bismuth, or with a digestive if the stomach contains food.

In those cases of atonic dyspepsia, where the entire apparatus, including the liver, is stagnant and inoperative, one-fourth of a teaspoonful of the fluid hydrastis or of the colorless hydrastis dissolved in water will restore a normal condition of the glands and of the entire mucous membranes.

The agent relieves the chronic constipation of plethora or muscular inactivity in relaxed, inactive, feeble cases. Its influence is encouraged by combination with nux vomica. It overcomes hepatic congestion in such cases and catarrh of the gall ducts. It may be combined with podophyllum, leptandra or iris.

It is a most superior remedy in the atonic conditions of these organs in chronic alcoholism, and if combined with large doses of capsicum and with forced nutrition, will in great part supply the demand for alcoholics and assist in the cure of the disease. It acts as strychnine does in the cure, and may be most beneficially given in combination with that agent.

The tonic and nerve strengthening properties of this agent have long been utilized by the writer in all cases of general debility and nerve prostration, especially if associated with the conditions of the digestive and assimilative organs named. It is an admirable restorative tonic. It is demanded in convalescence from protracted fevers and debilitating inflammation, and as a general restorative after overwork, in the condition known as a complete “breaking down”.

The usual manner of prescribing it is to give a grain of hydrastine, two grains of the bisulphate of uinine, one grain of the carbonate of iron and one-fourth of a grain of capsicum in a capsule every three hours, after eating something simple, that the stomach may not be entirely empty. The improvement is remarked by the patient usually from the first. It is a simple tonic, but has no superior. In some plainly indicated cases, the quinine salt may be replaced with one-fourth of a grain of nux vomica.

The influence of the agent is certainly direct upon the central nervous system, promoting a normal circulation and increasing its nutrition. It will yet be found applicable in the treatment of cerebral engorgements of a chronic character, and in the treatment of hyperaemia of those organs, in the cases in which ergot is used.

It is valuable in from one-fourth to one-half teaspoonful doses of the fluid Hydrastis, or colorless Hydrastis, in water, in prostrating night sweats.

In its power over the nutrition of muscular structure, it is a most important remedy in many disorders of the womb. It produces contraction of the unstriped muscular fibers, slowly but permanently stimulating the removal of excess of growth. In parturition it is not so immediate or forceful as ergot, but acts mildly in the same manner. In uterine subinvolution, in menorrhagia or metrorrhagia from this cause, it is the best remedy we have.

It is useful also in post-partum hemorrhage, but is rather slow in its action when immediate results are demanded. In the incipient stage of the development of tumors within the uterine structure, or fibroid growths, it is not excelled by ergotine. It may be used hypodermically in these cases, and its results are comparatively permanent.

In the treatment of cancer or scirrhus of the breast Dr. Hale has had excellent results from the use of this remedy. He uses the mother tincture in conjunction with conium, giving five drops at a dose three or four times a day, the hydrastis before, the conium after meals. He says: “Sometimes, I mix them and give ten drops of the mixture three times a day.”

Hydrastis is directly indicated where the tumors are hard and painful; conium where they are small, hard and painless. Where the swelling is soft or undulated an dpainful on pressure, and pain extending into the axilla, we find phytolacca in the same doses better than either. Sometimes all three remedies are good together, and none of them is valuable in the open cancer. The remedies must be continued a long time to make a decided impression, and their effect is even increased by the same remedies being applied externally in the form of a plaster.

In all catarrhal conditions, especially if there be muscular relaxation and general enfeeblement, it is a useful remedy. It may be given internally and used locally. It is used locally in solution and is of much value as an application wash, irrigating fluid or gargle in all such catarrhal, ulcerating, aphthous, indolent and otherwise unhealthy conditions of mucous surfaces. Its application to nasal catarrh has been mentioned. It is a most useful gargle in aphthous or ulcerated sore mouth, in conditions where the gums are spongy or loosened from the teeth or bleed easily. In diphtheria and in tonsilitis as a gargle it is extremely useful.

Ten minims of a fluid preparation, to the ounce, may be used, or a solution of the hydrochlorate or hydrastine in nasal catarrh, in inflammation of the eyes and in gonorrhoea. One grain of the hydrochlorate in an ounce of rose water, with or without five grains of the sulphate of zinc, is of superior value in purulent conjunctivitis. The same preparation, diluted, is useful in gonorrhoea. Five drops of the solution in a dram of warm water is the proper strength. The colorless hydrastis in a solution with a small quantity of the potassium chlorate is sometimes superior in nasal catarrh. It is most serviceable in this condition if dilute.

It is the best of washes in leucorrhoea, whatever the cause, and it can be used freely without danger and in various strengths – from one dram to three, to the pint of hot water. It is of much service when the discharge is thick, yellow, and the membranes relaxed and feeble. In simple cases half a dram to the pint is beneficial.

It forms an excellent wash in eczema of the anus, with ulcers or fissures within the rectum. Its use may be followed with the application of a zinc ointment, with twenty-five per cent its weight of bismuth subnitrate. In mild solutions of the hydrochlorate of the alkaloid one-fourth grain to the ounce, it is serviceable in catarrh of the bladder, as an irrigating fluid.

We find in addition to the tonic influence of this remedy, that it has been used in a number of cases of gall stone, with curative results. Professor Farnum claims to have cured a number of cases with the powdered hydrastis. The cases which he regards amenable to this treatment are, first, ordinary cases of cholelithiasis, where the symptoms are transient and not severe; second, acute inflammatory cases, usually attended with fever, and catarrhal conditions of the gall ducts; third, cases ordinarily called biliary colic. Those, of course, where organic change has not taken place, or where the stones are not impacted, in the gall bladder or in the ducts. He uses it as an efficient remedy in catarrhal jaundice where there is no pain to indicate the presence of gall stones in the ducts. This is in harmony with its influence on general catarrhal condtiions of the gastro-intestinal tract.

Goss claimed that it had direct catalytic power, and aided the digestion, while it corrected the biliary function. It restores the mucous lining of the gall duct, in the same manner that it influences other mucous surfaces.

Cuthberton gave hydrastis canadensis as a tonic to a pregnant woman who had a goitre of recent appearance. The goitre was promptly cured. As a result of this observation, he treated twenty-five other cases of goitre at the time of puberty, or during the pregnant state. At times when interference with the function of the reproductive organs seemed to produce reflex irritation. He claims that every case was cured by this remedy. He gave the agent from six weeks to three months, three times a day after eating. One of the patients had become steadily worse under the use of iodine, the iodides, and thyroid extract. This patient began to improve as soon as hydrastis was given, and was promptly cured with this remedy alone.

Webster calls attention to the influence of hydrastis upon the mammary gland. It has been reported as a remedy for mammary cancer, but its more satisfactory influence is upon painful fulness of the mammary gland, during the menstrual period, or for the treatment of local enlargements occurring more or less suddenly, of a benign character, either in maiden ladies or at the menopause.

There is an abundance of authority for the use of hydrastis in conjunction with conium maculatum, in the treatment of non-malignant mammary tumors. The two agents combined seem to have an influence that neither possesses alone. Two minims each of these two remedies, in the specific form, was given by Webster before meals and at bed time, in these cases, with satisfactory results. The doctor reports in detail quite a number of cases which were relieved or cured by this treatment.

1919: Ellingwood
Synonyms – Golden seal, Yellow puccoon.

Preparations – Specific Medicine Hydrastis, alcoholic, contains a bitter coloring principle, berberine, and the white alkaloids, hydrastine and canadine, and resinous and oily principles. Dose, from one to ten minims. Colorless Hydrastis, non-alcoholic, contains the colorless alkaloids and the inorganic salts dissolved in glycerine an dwater.

Extractum Hydrastis, Inspissated Extract, Extract of Hydrastis. Dose, one to five grains.

Tincture of Hydrastis. Dose, from twenty minims to two drams.

Hydrastis Pulvis, Powdered Hydrastis. Dose, from three to fifteen grains.

Berberine (Hydrastin, yellow). Dose from one-half to five grains.

Hydrastine (white). Dose, from one-tenth of a grain to three grains.

Constituents – Berberine, Hydrastine, Canadine.

Physiological Action – In its influence upon the nervous system, this agent has stimulating properties in part analogous to those of strychnine. Its influence is more slowly developed and more permanent. In extreme doses it blunts the sensibility of the terminal nerve filaments, and convulsions have resulted from its use.

It stimulates the respiration and circulation, imparting tone and increased power to the heart’s action, increasing arterial tension and capillary blood pressure. It influences blood stasis similarly to ergot and belladonna.

The tone imparted to the muscular structure of the heart differs from that imparted by strychnine in being permanent and not spasmodic or intermittent in character. It influences muscular structure everywhere in the system in the same manner. It stimulates normal fibrillar contractility and increased tonus, encouraging the nutrition of muscular structure. It inhibits the development of superfluous muscular tissue and abnormal growth within that structure. It is thus most valuable in altered conditions of the heart muscle.

In its influence upon the gastro-intestinal tract it is tonic, restorative and soothing in its action. It promotes the appetite, increases the secretion of the gastric and intestinal juices and conduces to a restoration of the normal condition. It increases peristaltic action and general muscular tonus in the structure of walls of the stomach and intestines.

The alkaloids have been given in sufficient quantities to produce death in the lower animals in experimental investigation, but it cannot be considered toxic in medicinal doses. It produces convulsive action, followed by decreased irritability of the vagus, the blood pressure is suddenly decreased and the heart fails in diastole.

Its elimination is comparatively active and is largely accomplished through the kidneys.

Therapy – In its therapeutic influence its widest range of action is upon the stomach, in functional disorders of that organ. It is the most natural of stimulants to the normal function of digestion. Its influence upon the mucous surfaces renders it most important in catarrhal gastritis and gastric ulceration. It supersedes all known remedies as a locak, and also as a constitutional tonic when this condition is present.

In administering this remedy, if there be irritation, the fluid and less bulky preparations are preferable. If there be marked atonicity with inactivity of the stomach and lack of nerve sensibility, the powdered drug in five grain doses is the most useful. This increases the tone, reduces abnormal secretion, stimulates normal excretion, promotes the appetite and increases the quantity of the digestive juices, and thus favors the digestion. It is most excellent in indigestion in such cases, acting in a more rational manner than the digestives which have no influence beyond that immediately exercised upon the food within the stomach.

In extremely irritable conditions a solution which contains one or two drops of the specific hydrastis, or the colorless hydrastis, or in extreme cases the one-twelfth to the one-fourth of a grain of the sulphate of hydrastine or of the hydrochlorate of hydrastine is preferable to large doses of hydrastine or the powdered hydrastis. In some cases powders, or the precipitated principle, will irritate the stomach, producing weight, distress or even mild pain if the stomach is empty. In such cases it it best given after a little food has been taken, or in conjunction with the subnitrate, or the oxide of bismuth, or with a digestive if the stomach contains food.

In those cases of atonic dyspepsia, where the entire apparatus, including the liver, is stagnant and inoperative, one-fourth of a teaspoonful of the fluid hydrastis or of the colorless hydrastis dissolved in water will restore a normal condition of the glands and of the entire mucous membranes.

The agent relieves the chronic constipation of plethora or muscular inactivity in relaxed, inactive, feeble cases. Its influence is encouraged by combination with nux vomica. It overcomes hepatic congestion in such cases and catarrh of the gall ducts. It may be combined with podophyllum, leptandra or iris.

It is a most superior remedy in the atonic conditions of these organs in chronic alcoholism, and if combined with large doses of capsicum and with forced nutrition, will in great part supply the demand for alcoholics and assist in the cure of the disease. It acts as strychnine does in the cure, and may be most beneficially given in combination with that agent.

The tonic and nerve strengthening properties of this agent have long been utilized by the writer in all cases of general debility and nerve prostration, especially if associated with the conditions of the digestive and assimilative organs named. It is an admirable restorative tonic. It is demanded in convalescence from protracted fevers and debilitating inflammation, and as a general restorative after overwork, in the condition known as a complete “breaking down”.

The usual manner of prescribing it is to give a grain of hydrastine, two grains of the bisulphate of uinine, one grain of the carbonate of iron and one-fourth of a grain of capsicum in a capsule every three hours, after eating something simple, that the stomach may not be entirely empty. The improvement is remarked by the patient usually from the first. It is a simple tonic, but has no superior. In some plainly indicated cases, the quinine salt may be replaced with one-fourth of a grain of nux vomica.

The influence of the agent is certainly direct upon the central nervous system, promoting a normal circulation and increasing its nutrition. It will yet be found applicable in the treatment of cerebral engorgements of a chronic character, and in the treatment of hyperaemia of those organs, in the cases in which ergot is used.

It is valuable in from one-fourth to one-half teaspoonful doses of the fluid Hydrastis, or colorless Hydrastis, in water, in prostrating night sweats.

In its power over the nutrition of muscular structure, it is a most important remedy in many disorders of the womb. It produces contraction of the unstriped muscular fibers, slowly but permanently stimulating the removal of excess of growth. In parturition it is not so immediate or forceful as ergot, but acts mildly in the same manner. In uterine subinvolution, in menorrhagia or metrorrhagia from this cause, it is the best remedy we have.

It is useful also in post-partum hemorrhage, but is rather slow in its action when immediate results are demanded. In the incipient stage of the development of tumors within the uterine structure, or fibroid growths, it is not excelled by ergotine. It may be used hypodermically in these cases, and its results are comparatively permanent.

In the treatment of cancer or scirrhus of the breast Dr. Hale has had excellent results from the use of this remedy. He uses the mother tincture in conjunction with conium, giving five drops at a dose three or four times a day, the hydrastis before, the conium after meals. He says: “Sometimes, I mix them and give ten drops of the mixture three times a day.”

Hydrastis is directly indicated where the tumors are hard and painful; conium where they are small, hard and painless. Where the swelling is soft or undulated an dpainful on pressure, and pain extending into the axilla, we find phytolacca in the same doses better than either. Sometimes all three remedies are good together, and none of them is valuable in the open cancer. The remedies must be continued a long time to make a decided impression, and their effect is even increased by the same remedies being applied externally in the form of a plaster.

In all catarrhal conditions, especially if there be muscular relaxation and general enfeeblement, it is a useful remedy. It may be given internally and used locally. It is used locally in solution and is of much value as an application wash, irrigating fluid or gargle in all such catarrhal, ulcerating, aphthous, indolent and otherwise unhealthy conditions of mucous surfaces. Its application to nasal catarrh has been mentioned. It is a most useful gargle in aphthous or ulcerated sore mouth, in conditions where the gums are spongy or loosened from the teeth or bleed easily. In diphtheria and in tonsilitis as a gargle it is extremely useful.

Ten minims of a fluid preparation, to the ounce, may be used, or a solution of the hydrochlorate or hydrastine in nasal catarrh, in inflammation of the eyes and in gonorrhoea. One grain of the hydrochlorate in an ounce of rose water, with or without five grains of the sulphate of zinc, is of superior value in purulent conjunctivitis. The same preparation, diluted, is useful in gonorrhoea. Five drops of the solution in a dram of warm water is the proper strength. The colorless hydrastis in a solution with a small quantity of the potassium chlorate is sometimes superior in nasal catarrh. It is most serviceable in this condition if dilute.

It is the best of washes in leucorrhoea, whatever the cause, and it can be used freely without danger and in various strengths – from one dram to three, to the pint of hot water. It is of much service when the discharge is thick, yellow, and the membranes relaxed and feeble. In simple cases half a dram to the pint is beneficial.

It forms an excellent wash in eczema of the anus, with ulcers or fissures within the rectum. Its use may be followed with the application of a zinc ointment, with twenty-five per cent its weight of bismuth subnitrate. In mild solutions of the hydrochlorate of the alkaloid one-fourth grain to the ounce, it is serviceable in catarrh of the bladder, as an irrigating fluid.

We find in addition to the tonic influence of this remedy, that it has been used in a number of cases of gall stone, with curative results. Professor Farnum claims to have cured a number of cases with the powdered hydrastis. The cases which he regards amenable to this treatment are, first, ordinary cases of cholelithiasis, where the symptoms are transient and not severe; second, acute inflammatory cases, usually attended with fever, and catarrhal conditions of the gall ducts; third, cases ordinarily called biliary colic. Those, of course, where organic change has not taken place, or where the stones are not impacted, in the gall bladder or in the ducts. He uses it as an efficient remedy in catarrhal jaundice where there is no pain to indicate the presence of gall stones in the ducts. This is in harmony with its influence on general catarrhal condtiions of the gastro-intestinal tract.

Goss claimed that it had direct catalytic power, and aided the digestion, while it corrected the biliary function. It restores the mucous lining of the gall duct, in the same manner that it influences other mucous surfaces.

Cuthberton gave hydrastis canadensis as a tonic to a pregnant woman who had a goitre of recent appearance. The goitre was promptly cured. As a result of this observation, he treated twenty-five other cases of goitre at the time of puberty, or during the pregnant state. At times when interference with the function of the reproductive organs seemed to produce reflex irritation. He claims that every case was cured by this remedy. He gave the agent from six weeks to three months, three times a day after eating. One of the patients had become steadily worse under the use of iodine, the iodides, and thyroid extract. This patient began to improve as soon as hydrastis was given, and was promptly cured with this remedy alone.

Webster calls attention to the influence of hydrastis upon the mammary gland. It has been reported as a remedy for mammary cancer, but its more satisfactory influence is upon painful fullness of the mammary gland, during the menstrual period, or for the treatment of local enlargements occurring more or less suddenly, of a benign character, either in maiden ladies or at the menopause.

There is an abundance of authority for the use of hydrastis in conjunction with conium maculatum, in the treatment of non-malignant mammary tumors. The two agents combined seem to have an influence that neither possesses alone. Two minims each of these two remedies, in the specific form, was given by Webster before meals and at bed time, in these cases, with satisfactory results. The doctor reports in detail quite a number of cases which were relieved or cured by this treatment.

1921: Lloyd
Introduced in 1860 (Secondary List). Official in all later editions.

Hydrastis canadensis is a native of North America . Once abundant in the thick woodlands of the Central West, in the territory bordering the Ohio River from Illinois to Virginia , it is now, in its native home, practically exterminated. Hydrastis is known by the common names golden seal, yellow puccoon, yellow root, and other similar expressive appellations signifying its color, or applying to its nature. The root of this plant, of a rich golden yellow, like its companion, sanguinaria, which, however, has a red color, was used by the Indians as a cuticle stain, and also as a dye for their garments. Being exceedingly bitter, it was also useful in repelling insects, when mixed with grease and smeared upon the skin, and hence served a double purpose in the use of primitive man. Its first printed conspicuity came from a paper read by Mr. Hugh Martin (408) before the American Philosophical Society, 1782, published in their Transactions, 1793, under the title “An Account of some of the Principal Dyes employed by the North American Indians.” By reason of its red berry, hydrastis was also called ground raspberry. Although it had been mentioned in various medical publications, the drug was held in slight repute, and was of no commercial importance until the advent of the American Eclectics, who first prepared its alkaloidal salts for professional use. (388a). Its medical history therefore dates from its use by the Indians, who introduced it as a native remedy to the earliest botanical explorers, and to settlers. Its therapeutic qualities were overlooked, however, by Kalm (350), 1772; Cutler (178), 1783, and Schopf (582), 1785; Barton (43) first in a brief note bringing it before the medical profession, 1798. He credits the Cherokee Indians for its uses, and in the third part of his work, 1804, he devotes considerable attention to the drug. Rafinesque (535), 1828, states that the Indians employed hydrastis as a stimulant, and that the Cherokees used it for cancer, but that for this purpose better remedies were known to them. The principal use of hydrastis by the Indians, however, and the use which afterwards crept into domestic practice, was as an infusion or wash for skin diseases and for sore or inflamed eyes. It was also employed as a stimulant for indolent ulcers, and as an internal tonic. Hydrastis may be considered typical of the drugs that are employed very extensively by the medical profession, through their empirical introduction, it being recorded that even for gonorrhea the Indians discovered its utility.

Early authorities on American medicinal plants, such as Barton (43), 1798 and 1804, Hand (298), House Surgeon, 1820, Rafinesque (535), Elisha Smith (601), 1830, Kost (361), 1851, Sanborn (571), 1835, give to hydrastis considerable conspicuity, whilst Dunglison’s Medical Dictionary (203), 1852, erroneously states that in Kentucky, only, it is used, and then only as an outward application for wounds. (See Drugs and Medicines of North America (389), pp. 154-5. This gives the most complete study of hydrastis and its alkaloids extant).

The voluminous chemistry of the hydrastis alkaloids lies in the province of Dr. Waldbott and Prof. Heyroth.

Briefly, “The Relationship of Hydrastine and Berberine to One Another, and Their Mode of Combination in the Drug,” is discussed by Dr. A. R. L. Dohme, Proc. Amer. Pharm. Assn., 1894, pp. 188-190. The subject concerns pure chemistry and can not be properly treated in this history of drugs, but reference thereto should not be neglected. To this it may be added that in 1899 Dr. Dohme continued the subject (Proc. Amer. Pharm. Ass’n., 1899, pp. 280-283) from a purely assaying phase, the conclusions being that “spring-dug Golden Seal is fully equal to fall-dug, in content of the white alkaloid.” Research Laboratory of Sharp & Dohme.