Sassafras.

Related entry: Sassafras under stimulants

The bark of the root of the Laurus Sassafras is diaphoretic, stimulant, antiseptic and alterative. It is employed in the form of a warm infusion, with a view to exciting the capillary circulation of the surface in both acute and chronic exanthe-matous fevers. In variola rubeola, scarlatina, etc., many of our practitioners think it one of the most valuable articles known. It is regarded as acting specifically upon the disease, and in cases of retrocession of the eruption, or when slow in making its appearance upon the surface, or when it is imperfectly developed, an infusion may be used with a prospect of advantage to the patient.

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