Rumex.

The root of Rumex crispus.

Preparations.—Infusion of Rumex. Tincture of Rumex.

Dose.—Of the tincture, from five drops to one drachm.

Therapeutic Action.—Yellow-dock is alterative, tonic, astringent and discutient.

Many species of the Dock are employed for medicinal purposes, and are said to possess analogous properties. The species mostly used in this country are the R. Crispus, R. Obtusifolius, R. Aquaticus, R. Britanica, and R. Sanguineus. Of these, the crispus and obtusifolius have been mostly employed by the Eclectic School of Medicine, and, we believe, by physicians generally throughout the United States.

Dock appears to exert its silent alterative action upon the constitution in many chronic cutaneous eruptions, as scabies, the different forms of herpes, etc.; syphilis when it has assumed a constitutional form, attended with an ulceration of the fauces, eruption, or ulceration upon the surface; also in mercurio-syphilitic disorders, mercurial cachexy, rheumatism, cancerous tumors or ulcers, scrofula—whether manifested by a general depravation of the system, enlarged glands, or foul and indolent ulcers—or in any other forms of ulcer, especially if dependent upon some constitutional taint. In caries, necrosis, or other morbid conditions of the osseous system, in scurvy or scorbutic affections, and in numerous other abnormal states, its resolvent, depurative and detergent qualities render it an excellent auxiliary and corroborant.

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