Panax Quinquefolium. (Ginseng.)

Preparation.—Prepare a tincture from the fresh or recent root, in the proportion of ℥viij. to Alcohol 50° Oj. Dose from gtts. v. to gtts. xx.

We have laughed at the Chinese for their use of Ginseng, which we have deemed inert, but I am pretty well satisfied that in this, as in some other things, they have the advantage of us. A limited use of the article has given me a very favorable opinion of its influence.

Its first use, and a very important one, is in the treatment of nervous dyspepsia. I have obtained more benefit from it in my own person, than from any other remedy, and I have employed it with others with equal advantage. It exerts a decidedly beneficial influence in exhaustion of the brain from over work, and it is probable that its influence is as much in this direction as upon the stomach.

It is one of those remedies, however, that produces no marked improvement at first, and must be continued for weeks to obtain its good effects.

Specific Medication and Specific Medicines, 1870, was written by John M. Scudder, M.D.