Pterospora.

The root of Pterospora andromeda.

Dose.—Of the Pterospora, in powder, from grs. xx. to half a drachm, or even one drachm, every twenty or thirty minutes, or less often, in sweetened water. Of an infusion, of half an ounce to a pint of boiling water, one to two ounces.

Therapeutic Action.—Pterospora is one of our most powerful and efficient diaphoretics, yet, from its scarcity, it has not yet come into general use. It has been employed as a sudorific or diaphoretic, in febrile affections, with great advantage. It is used in all forms of fever, but especially in those of a typhoid, continued or remittent character. If taken freely, it produces free perspiration without accelerating the action of the heart, or increasing the temperature of the body; but, on the contrary, it appears to exert the reverse influence, and stops, as Rafinesque asserts, the fever in a few hours.

The American Eclectic Materia Medica and Therapeutics, 1898, was written by John M. Scudder, M.D.