E164 .S3 1911a Schopf, Johann David Reise durch einige der mittlern und sxidlichen Vereinigten Norda- merkanischen Staaten nach Ost- Florida und den Bahama Inseln unternommen in den jahren 1783 und 1784 Bulletin No. i6. 191 i. Botany Series, No. 2. BULLETIN of the LLOYD LIBRARY of BOTANY, PHARMACY AND MATERIA MEDICA J. U. & C. G. LLOYD CINCINNATI, OHIO BOTANY SERIES, No. 2 Reise durch einige der mittlern und siidlichen Vereinigten Nordamerikanischen Staaten nach Ost- Florida und den Bahama Inseln imternommen in den Jahren 1783 und 1784 von Johann David Schopf Erlanoren bey Johann Jacob Palm, 1788 Publications Issued by The Lloyd Library (Complete List to January 1, 1911.) Bulletin of the Lloyd Library of Botany, Pharmacy, and Materia Medica No. 1. Reproduction Series No. 1. Collections for an essay towards a Materia Medica of the United States by Benja- min Smith Barton, 1798 and 1804. No. 2. Reproduction Series No. 2. The Indian Doctor's Dispensatory, being Father Smith's advice respecting diseases andtheir cure, by Peter Smith, of the Miami Country, 1813. No. 3. Mycological Series No. 1. The Genera of Gastromycetes, by C. G. Lloyd. No. 4. Pharmacy Series No. 1. References to Capillarity to the end of the year 1900, being Chapter VII of "A Study in Pharmacy, ' ' by John Uri Lloyd. No. 5. Mycological Series No. 2. The Geastrae, by C. G. Lloyd. No. 6. Reproduction Series No. 3. Materia Medica Americana, Fotissimum Regni Vegetabilis, by Johannes David Schoepf, 1787. No. 7. Reproduction Series No. 4. An account of some of the vegetalDle productions naturally growing in this part of America, botanically arranged by the Rev. Manasseh Cutler. No. 8. Mycological Series No. 3. The Lycoperdaceae of Australia, New Zealand, and Neighboring Islands, by C. G. Lloyd. No. 9. Reproduction Series No. 5. An investigation of the properties of the Sanguinaria Canadensis or Puccoon, by William Downey. Travels through the interior parts of North America in the years 176G, 1767, and 1768, by J. Carver. Libellus de Usu Medico Pulsatillae Nigricautis. No. 10. Reproduction Series No. 6. Hydrastis Canadensis. No. 11. Reproduction Series No. 7. Life and medical discoveries of Samuel Thomson and a history of the Thomsonian Materia Medica. No. 12. Pharmacy Series No. 2. The Eclectic Alkaloids, Resins, Resinoids, Oleo-Resins, and Concentrated Princi- ples, by John Uri Lloyd. No. 13. Mycological Series No. 4. Synopsis of the Known Phalloids, by C. G. Lloyd. No. 14. Mycological Series No. 5. Synopsis of the Genus Hexagona, by C. G. Lloyd. No. 15. Botany Series No. 1. Catalogue of the Ferns and Flowering Plants of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Vicinity, by W. H. Aiken. No. 16. Botany Series, No. 2. Reise durch einige der mittlern und sudlichen vereinigten Nordamerikanischen' Staaten nach Ost-Florida und den Bahama Inseln unternommen in den Jahren 1783 und 1784, von Johann David Schopf, Erlangen, bey Johann Jacob Palm, 1788. Bibliographical Contributions from the Lloyd Library No. 1. Catalogue of the Periodical Literature in the Lloyd Library. Mycological Writings of Mr. C. G. Lloyd Mycological Notes, No. 1 to No. 36, 1898-1910. Mycological Notes, Old Species Issue, No. 1, 1908. Mycological Notes, Polyporoid Issue, No. 1 to No. 3, 1908-1910. Letters, No. 1 to No. 28, 1904-1910. A Compilation of the Volvae of the United States, 1898. The Genera of the Gastromycetes, 1902.* The Geastrae, 1902.* The Lycoperdaceae of Australia, New Zealand, and Neighboring Islands 1905 * The Tylostomeae, 1906. o , The Nidulariaceae, 1906. The Phalloids of Australasia. 1907. Synopsis of the Known Phalloids, 1909.* Synopsis of the Genus Hexagona, 1910.* Synopsis of the Sections Microporus, Tabacinus, and Funales of the Genus Poly- * Published also as a Bulletin of the Lloyd Library of the Mycological Series. Introduction. Dr. Johann David Schoepf, b. Wunsiedel, Bavaria, March 8, 1752; received liis degree in medicine from the University of Erlangen in 1776; appointed surgeon to the Ansbach troops, arriving at New York, June 4, 1777; for six years in the hospitals of New York, Philadelphia, and Rhode Island; d. September 10, 1800, President of the United Medical Colleges of Ansbach and Bayreuth.* Leaving New York as soon as possible after the war, in July, 1783, Dr. Schoepf set out upon his travels to the South. After ten days in Philadelphia, he visited Bethlehem and Nazareth, and thence crossed Pennsylvania to Pittsburg, in a two-wheeled chaise. His route lay through the Wyoming Valley, by Reading, Lebanon, and Carlisle. Re- turning he took the southern road, to the Potomac, through George- town, Alexandria, Annapolis, and Baltimore. He was at Philadelphia a second time October 31, 1783. This is the region covered by his tirst volume. Towards the end of November, 1783, he left Philadelphia and passed through Maryland into Virginia ; from Richmond he made an excursion to Yorktown. Thence following the coast he arrived at Charleston in February. March 9, 1784, he sailed for St. Augustine, and on the 29th of that month crossed to the Bahama Islands. He set sail for England June 7, 1784. Schoepf was the first naturalist to traverse so much of the United States during the year following the Peace of 1783. Therefore, in the extracts here given, it has been thought well to include some- thing of his observations touching the economic aspects of the subject. Dr. Schoepf was a particularly well-informed man of science, of a wide range of interests, and it may be added that his Beytrdge zur miner alogischen Kenntnis des dstlichen Theils von Nord America is regarded as the first work on American Geology.^ His Travels, a rare book, have been translated for the first time into English by Alfred J. Morrison, from the copy in the Library of Congress. These extracts have been supplied by the translator, at the request of Dr. John Uri Lloyd. * cf. I. Kremers, Introd., Materia Medica Americana [Schoefif^, Lloyd Library Bulletin. 2. Hirsch, ' iografrhisihes Lexikon der hervorra enden Aerztc aller Zpiten uid Volker 3. Fr Ralzel, in AUg-'nt. Deutsche Hiographie. 4 Robengarten, The Gerjtian Soldier in the Wars 0/ the United States, 2nd ed., pp. 91-98. T[cf. George P. Merrill, Contributions to the History 0/ A7nerican Geology, Smithsonian Insti- tution Report {Nat. Museum) 1904, p 208. SCHOPF AMERICAN TRAVELS. Pensylvania. [I, 1 15-138.] Dr. Benjamin Rush is the Professor of Chymistry, [University of Pennsylvania Medical Faculty], and is a very favorite practicioner a man whose agreeable manners, oratorical fluency, and flowery style abundantly recommend him to his fellow-countryman. He is the author of several opuscula of a medical nature, but also appears frequently as a political writer. Several sheets of his on the newest methods of inoculating for the smallpox and of treating that disease have appeared recently in a German translation. Daring the war he was for a time Physician-in-chief of the American army and frequently had occasion to observe the fatal course of lockjaw in cases of insignificant wounds, although opium was administered heavily. This led him to the opinion that the cause might be found in an extreme weakness of the body. Therefore his treatment was to administer Peruvian bark and wine, at the same time making incisions in the wound and applying a blister of Spanish fly. Results were incompar- ably better. He intends himself to publish, with other material, his ob- servations and conclusions in this matter, unless publication of them is managed earlier in some other way. The idea is confirmed by com- parisons made between the wounded of the two armies, British and French, after the siege of York in Virginia. Most of the wo.mded in the French army, but especially those of West India regiments, were attacked with the lockjaw and died, although their injuries may have been slight, whereas, in the British hospitals a fatal outcome was seldom remarked. It is a known fact that soldiers from the West Indies always show a weak state of health, and the remainder of the French troops, (having made in the height of summer a long and tedious march from New England to Virginia), must have been in a weakened condition. Lockjaw was not frequently the case at Philadelphia, and was as seldom seen at New York, among the British troops. Some time ago an Irish woman made several fortunate cures of blood-spitting by the use of common kitchen salt. She recommended for patients suffering with this malady a teaspoonful of salt every morning, to be gradually increased to a tablespoonful several times a day. In the more positive cases of blood-spitting, several doses must be given, often repeated until the symptoms cease, which will unfailingly happen in a short time, it is claimed. Dr. Rush about thirty years ago learned of this treatment, and has made use of it since in more than thirty cases, and invariably with good results. The cure is effectual also in bleedings at the nose and in floodings, but is excellent for blood-spitting. Only in two cases was there no sfood effect, to-wit, with a man w^ho was an old and incorrigible drinker, and wuth another who from distrust of so simple a means would not take the salt in sufficient quantity. Something similar Ins been long known respecting saltpetre and sal-ammoniac, but these being not so generally at hand, the practice with kitchen salt deserved mention. SCHOPF AMERICAN TRAVELS. The French physicians and surgeons, here as well as in the West Indies, were very much disinclined to give bark in cases of inter- mittent fever. The Americans were always sooner done with their patients, whereas the French showed a preference rather for enfeebling theirs to the skeleton point ; finally, indeed, brought them round, but very slowly and at the risk of frequent relapses and stoppages of the bowels secjuelae of long-standing fevers very much more certain to occur if hark is not given in time. Dr. Rush learned of a quack doctor the use of blistering plasters for obstinate cold fevers or agues, and his experience convinced him of the value of the treatment. The blisters are applied to both wrists and seldom fail of effect. (Several bands about the hand have long been used by our German country people.) Dr. Rush in this way cured a Virginia doctor of a tertian which he had been dragging about for three months, and he in turn used the treatment in Virginia with good results. . . . Dr. Kuhn, of German origin, is the Professor of Botany and Materia Medica. He is a disciple of the lamented Linnaeus, who named an order of plants in his honor, the Kuhnia which Dr. Kuhn himself has not seen, although it exists in Pensylvania. The professorship of Botany is an empty title, since throughout the summer there is neither lecturing nor botanizing. . . . I should tax the patience of my readers by an enumeration of all the Aesculapians and learned men of Philadelphia, where the labors of the physician are as richly rewarded as at anv place. The yearly in-take of more than one of these men is reckoned at several thousand pounds Pensyl. Current. But their greatest profit arises from the private dispensation of remedies ;* to which end each physician of large prac- tice has a select stock of drugs and keeps a few young men at hand to prepare prescriptions and assist in visiting patients. By private read- ins: or academical instruction, these young men contrive to increase their knowledge and so fit themselves for practice on their own account. . . . Mr. du Sumitiere, of Geneva, a painter, is almost the only man at Philadelphia who manifests a taste for natural history. Also he possesses the only collection, a small one, of natural curiosities and a not inconsiderable number of well-executed drawings of American birds, plants, and insects. It is to be regretted that his activities and his enthusiasm for collecting should be embarrassed bv domestic cir- cumstances, and that he should fail of positive encouragement from the American public. During the first days of my stay at Philadelphia I visited among" others Mr. Bartram, the son of the worthy and meritorious botanist (so often mentioned by Kalm) who died six years ago at a great age. Bartram the elder was merely a gardener, but by his own talents *There are besides several apothecarys and dealers in drugs at Philadelphia among others a German shop, where the Pennsylvania-Dut?J farmer, to his great comfort, is supplied all the silly doses he has been accustomed ) in the fatherland. SCHOPF AMERICAN TRAVELS. and industry, almost without instruction, became the first botanist in America, honored with their correspondence by Linnaeus, CoUinson, and other savans. He was, to be sure, more collector than student, but by his enthusiasm and love for plants, many new ones were discovered. He made many long journeys on foot through the mountain country, through several of the provinces, and (with Kalm and Conrad Weisser) into the interior of Canada. After the Peace of 1762 when both the Floridas were apportioned to Great Britain, Bartram received a commission from the King to visit those two provinces. Contrary to his own purpose his journal was published, but Bartram should not be judged by that dry record. Whoever wishes more information regarding him may find it in Hector St. John's Sketches of American Manners. The Bartram garden is situ- ated on an extremely pleasant slope across the Schuylkill and not far from its junction with the Delaware. An old but neat house of stone, on the river side, supported rather than adorned by several granite pillars, was the residence of this honored and contented old man. The son, the present owner of the garden, follows the employments of his father and maintains a very respectable collection of sundry North American plants, particularly trees and shrubs, the seeds and shoots of which he sends to England and France at a good profit. He is not so well known to the botanical world as was his father, but is equally deserving of recognition. When young he spent several years among the Florida Indians, and made a collection of plants in that region ; his unprinted manuscript on the natives and products of that country should be instructive and interesting. In the small space of his garden there is to be found assembled really a great va- riety of American plants, among others, most of their vines and conifers, species of which very little is generally known. The Sarra- cenia and several other marsh growths do very well here in dry beds confirmation of what I have often observed with astonishment, namely, that American plants grow anywhere, with little or no reference to the place of their origin.* Nearer to Philadelphia, but also on the farther bank of the Schuyl- kill, there lives a botanist ,who is the equal of Bartram neither in knowledge nor spirit, although he makes more ado INIr. Young, by birth a Hessian, who in a strange way has gotten to himself the title of Botanist to the Queen. His father lived at this same place, by what he could make on his bit of land ; the son was frequently in Bartram's garden and found amusement in the variegated blossoms. One day (so I was told at Philadelphia) he sent to London a paquet of plants which he had collected in the garden, with a letter addressed To the Queen. He had placed the paquet unobserved in the bag which is usually kept open at the Coffee-house by ships shortly to clear. Arrived at London the skipper was in a quandary whether to deliver the paquet, of which he knew nothing, what it contained or ''Sinc^ my return I have seen American trees and shrubs more than once, in England and Ger- many, thriving on dry soils, whereas in America it had been my observation that these varieties were to be found only in swampy places. SCHOPF AMERICAN TRAVELS. who had sent it ; but after consultation with his friends despatched it as directed. The Queen, supposing this to be an extraordinarily hope- ful lad, had the youthful Young brought to London and placed under the care of the celebrated Dr. Hill. Three hundred pounds sterling was appropriated annually for his use, and after a time Young came back to America, with the title, a large peruque and a small stipend, and fulfilled none of the hopes he had aroused. Some years ago, in- deed, he had printed at Paris an exhaustive catalogue of plants pre- sumably in his garden ; but I found that his garden is very extensive if this or that plant of the catalogue is not to be found in his garden he answers with his customary bombast that all j\merica, field and forest, is his garden.* The taste for gardening is, at Philadelphia as well as throughout America, still in its infancy. There are not yet to be found many orderly and interesting gardens. ]\Ir. Hamilton's, near the city, is the only one deserving special mention. Such neglect is all the more astonishing, because so many people of means spend the most part of their time in the country. Gardens as at present managed are purely utilitarian. Pleasure gardens have not yet come in, and if per- spectives are wanted one must be content with those offered by the landscape, not very various, what with the still immense forests. The fruitful warmth of the climate obviates indeed very many difficulties which we have to contend with in securing garden growths and maizes careless gardeners. So long as people are content merely with the customary products of northern Europe, these may be had at small pains : but with this management the advantages are lost which would be aft'orded by a better, that is to say, many of the products natural to a warmer climate might be had with a little care. Most of the vegetables and flowers of northern Europe have been introduced. Many of these do well and have even been improved, but others grow worse under careless management. American gardening has nothing of the characteristic to show, beyond several varieties and dubieties of pumpkins, squashes, and gourds, the cultivation of which was usual among the Indians. Several of our vegetables w^ere first introduced by the German troops, e. g., Kohlrabi, broccoli, and the black radish. But certain of our good fruits are lacking (or at least very seldom seen, and then not the best sorts), such as, plums, apricots, walnuts, good pears, the domestic chestnut, gooseberries, and others, and for no other reason but neglect to make the proper eft'orts, with patience and attention for the American cares little for what does not grow of itself, and is satisfied with the great yields of his cherry, apple, and peach trees, without giving a thought to possible and often necessary betterments. They know little or nothing of grafting, or inoculations, or use such practices very seldom. Much, without sufficient ground, is charged to the disadvantages of the climate, and people have let themselves be too easily frightened away from gardening, when the * Recently Mr. Humphrey Marshall has made himself known by his American Grove, or alpha- betical list of all N'lrth Amei ican trees and shrubs, i ublished at Philadelphia in 8 vo. 1785. He lives in Pensylvania, in ( hester County, and offers to furnish at a moderate price collections of seeds or of living plants noticed in his catalogue. SCHOPF AMERICAN TRAVELS. trouble was thai nothing of the first qtiaUty has been produced, be- cause of thin soil, bad seed, and unskillful cultivation. The taste for garden flowers is likewise very restricted ; however, a few florists are to be found. Dr. Glentworth, formerly a surgeon in the army, has a numerous collection of beautiful bulbs and other flowers which he maintains by yearly importations from Holland. But as a rule one finds in the gardens nothing but wild jasmine, flower- gentles, globe-amaranths, hibiscus syriacus, and other common things. The beautiful gilliflower, the ranunculus, auricula, etc., of these they are little aware. [I, 239-241.] All the hills about [Nazareth to Schoneck], as far as the eye could reach, were grown up with the bush oak (Quercus nana, Dwarf oak).* Only here and there stood a chestnut, quite alone, or one of the other oaks. We overlooked in part and in part passed through some thousands of acres of land bearing nothing but this description of oak. Their twisted and bushy stems seldom exceeded a height of three to four feet; at times we observed trees of ten to twelve feet, or even fifteen feet, but very few of them. These oaks seem to take possession of this dry and infertile hill country as if by privilege. And there is found among them besides scarcely any va- riety of other plants. We noticed only the Actcua racemosa (which we missed hardly anywhere along the whole road), the Galega z'ir- giniana, Sophora tinctoria, Gerardia, and a few others, along with a dry bristly grass. In the lower valleys between these hills the other oaks occur, as also the chestnut oak which is seldom seen elsewhere in this region. The land grown up in this dwarf oak is of very little value. The people living near by set fire to the bush every spring, in order to give air to the grass beneath, and so furnish their cattle a little pasture. However, the growth comes out again, although the bark is almost coaled. Fire seems to do them little hurt, whereas the chestnut and other tree-oaks stand among them dry and scorched. [I, 347-348.] The blue magnolia or mountain magnolia (Mag- nolia acuminata, Linn.) was one of the more conspicuous trees pecul- iar to this mountain region [near Bedford]. They call it here the cucumber tree, because its long cones, before they ripen and open, are in shape something like that fruit. The seeds, seed-receptacles, and in less degree the bark and twigs have in common with other mag- nolias a very pleasant bitterness of taste, and the seeds are often used * I his bush oak was similar to that growing on Long Island and called Qu. Iliii/olia by Von Wangenheim Vid his Ain'rikanis lie Holzart n p. 79). Marshall, in his American Crov", calls it Dwarf black oak 1 Quercus nie:r'i puiiiila\. But Marshall makes dwarf VHri- ties of almost every kind of oak, according as it is a gr .wth of poor, thin soil Thus he has a Qiirrcus alba minor, Harren white oak. Qurrcu- rubra nana. Dwarf Barren oak. Quercus prinus humilis. Dwarf Chestnut or Chin- quapin (Jak. In this way there might he dwarf varietir s of every sort of tree, whereas there is a lack of nourishment in the soil and the question may still be put wherever this oak is an independent variety. 8 SCHQPF AMERICAN TRAVELS. in bitter spirituous infusions. This tree is distinguished from its rela- tives by its habitat ; it is found only in dry spots in the mountains, and bears more cold than other magnolias. The ripe-seed vessels have a pleasant odor and taste something like the calamus. The unripe fruit blackens the fingers and stains the knife. [T, 362-363.] A man met us who was taking to Philadelphia some five hundred pounds of ginseng-roots (Panax quinquefoUum, L,) on two horses. He hoped to make a great profit because throughout the war little of this article was gathered, and it was now demanded in quantity by certain Frenchmen. The hunters collect it incidentally in their wanderings ; in these mountains the plant is still common, but in the lower parts it has pretty well disappeared. It grows in not too rich woods-earth in mountain regions from Canada down to North and South Carolina. Much is brought in to Fort Pitt. Industrious people who went out for the purpose have gathered as much as sixty pounds in one day. Three pound's of the freshly gathered make only one pound of the well dried ; which is sold by the gatherers for one, one and a half, to two shillings, Pensylv. Current, commonly about a shilling sterling. The physicians in America make no use of this root ; and it is an article of trade only with China, where the price is not so high as it was, on account of the great adulteration. All man- ner of similar roots were mixed in. The English take very little of it. The taste of the fresh root is very similar to that of our sweet- wood or liquorice, but is somewhat more aromatick. In these motm- tains also are gathered many pounds of the Senega {Poly gala Sen- ega, L.) and of the Virginia snake-root {Aristolochia Serpent. L.). [I, 415-420.] In several excursions beyond the Alleghany we had occasion to observe the goodness and riotous fertility of the soil in its original and undisturbed character. The indigenous plants had a lusty, fat appearance, and they grow vastly stronger and to greater heights than is their habit elsewhere. In a new-made and unmanured garden there stood stalks of the common sun-flower, which were not less than twenty feet high, measured six inches in diameter, and were almost ligneous. The forests were of chestnut, beech, sassafras, tulip-trees or poplars, wild cherry, red maple, sugar maple, black walnut, hickory and its varieties, several sorts of oak, the sour gum, the liquid amber or sweet gum, and other trees known along the coast but here growing still finer and stronger. The forests are for the most part quite clear of undergrowth, which is equally fortunate for the hunter and the trav- eler. We were shown several trees described as of an unknown spe- cies, which appeared quite like the Gleditsia triacanfhos, but had no thorns. Among the somewhat rarer trees are to be reckoned the papaws,* which chiefly grow in moist, rich, black soil, often called after them, "papaw soil." They are slender trees, with a smooth, * Annona glabra. Gron. Virg. p. 83. Annona fructu lutescente laevi, &c. Catesby II. 85 ? SCHOPF AMERICAN TRAVELS. white bark, and beautifully leaved. Their smooth, egg-shaped fruit when over-ripe is not at all unpleasant, but by no means to every one's taste. The fruit has an odor of pineapples, but the bark and leaves a disagreeable, repulsive smell. The sugar-maple is largely used by the people of these parts, be- cause the carriage makes the customary sugar too dear for them. The tree grows more numerously here in the mountains than in the country nearer the coast ; and one sees now and again in the woods gutters and troughs by means of which the sap is collected. The Indians also are known to make use of the sugar, and they boil it down on the spot. Others prepare it for sale at one ana a naif to two shillings Pensylv. the pound. It is brown, to be sure, and somewhat dirty and viscous, but by repeated refinings can be made good and agreeable.* A domestic tea is prepared from the leaves of the Red- root (Ccanothiis americana), which is really not bad to drink, and may well take its place along with the inferior sorts of Bohea tea. Jonathan Plummer in Washington county on the Monongahela during the war prepared, himself, more than one thousand pounds of this tea, and sold it for seven and a half to ten Pensylv. shillings the pound. His method of preparation he kept secret ; probably he dried the leaves on or in iron-ware over a slow fire. By better handling, more careful and cleanly, this tea could likely be made greatly more to the taste than it is. At the beginning of the war, what with general prohibi- tions and the enthusiastic patriotism, the importing of Chinese tea was for some time rendered difficult, and attempts were made every- where to find substitutes in native growths ; this shrub was found the most serviceable for the purpose, and its use is still continued in the back parts. Along the coa^t this patriotic tea was less known and demanded, but it will soon banish from many houses in the moun- tains the foreign tea which is now become cheaper. The use of tea is everywhere quite common. Besides the elsewhere commonly known sorts of wild American grape-vines, there is found on the lower sandy banks of the Ohio a particular vine, of a squat, bushy stem, which bears small, round, black, and sweet berries, and has been observed nowhere else by me. Ginseng and both varieties of the snake-root occur in plenty and are industriously gathered. Of other medicinal plants there are found the Collinsonia, Veronica virginica, Lobelia syphilitica, Aralia race- mosa, NiidicauUs, Spiraea trifoliata, Actcea racemosa, Asclepias tube- rosa, Aristolochia frutescens, etc., and numberless others which I have cited elsewhere in a list of North American sanative remedies. What with our short stay at a season already advanced, the list of the re- maining plants met with in this region would be too uncertain and insignificant to be given place here. We found only a few autumn plants in blooni, and those well known ; but spring and summer in the '' More circumstantial accounts in this regard are to be found in P Kalm's description of how sugar is made in North America from several sorts of trees. Schwed. akad. Abhandl XI II. ID SCHOPF AMERICAN TRAVELS. mountains and swamps of this western country would certainly afford a rich harvest, not only of rare plants but of those unknown. Among other things these forests would supply many new contributions to the order of mushrooms, of which uncommonly large specimens are sometimes found. I saw a white Lycoperdon, which weighed two and a quarter pounds and was in diameter a foot and eight inches. Fruit is still a rarity, here as well as throughout the mountains. Near to the Fort [Fort Pitt] was an orchard, planted by the English garrison, but since wholly neglected, and this was the only one for per- haps a hundred miles around. In it were several varieties of the best tasting pears and apples. The common reproach that America is unable to produce as good fruit as Europe will certainly not apply to this region. In the woods around there are many wild bees, and on still, warm evenings one notices quite plainly a pleasant smell of honey. [I, 436-444.] Of the medical knowledge of the Indians the opinion here and there in America is still very high.* The greater number, but not the well-informed, are convinced that the Indians, myste- riously skilled in many excellent remedies, carefully and jealously conceal them from the white Europeans. As always so here, people are deceived by the fancy that behind a veil of mystery there lie hid- den great and powerful things. I see no reason to expect anything extraordinary or important, and I am almost certain that with the passage of time nothing will be brought to light, if as is the case, out- right specifics are looked for and presumably infallible remedies. I do not therefore deny in any way that we must thank the northern half of America for sundry medicaments of value, and I apprehend as well that every new remedy must be to the patriotic American physician a treasured contribution to his domestic medical store. Most of the diseases for the healing of which the skill of the Indians is espe- cially praised are simple, those in which nature may work actively and effect the most salutary changes. The variety of diseases among the Indians is not great and is confined chiefly to fevers and super- ficial injuries. The observers and panegyrists of the so much belauded Indian methods of therapy are commonly ignorant people who find things and circumstances wonderful because they can not offer expla- nations from general principles. The bodily constitution of an Indian hardened from youth by vehement exercise and by many difficult feats, demands and bears stronger medical excitants ; and endowed origi- nally with more elasticity, the physical system of an Indian often rids itself of a malady more promptly than that of a European, weaker and softer, is able to do. Their weaklings succumb in early youth, and those who survive all the hardships of a careless bringing-up owe it to their better constitution. The medicines of which they make *This ungrounded but ancient misconception Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia some time ago undertook to combat. See his Oration delivered February 4. 1774, be/ore the American Philo- sophiral Society, contaitiing an engui^y into the natural history of Medicine amotig the Indians of N 'rlh Ameri a. A translation of this readable essay is to be found in Samml. anserles. Abhandl. fiir Praktische Aertzte, IV. 267. II SCHOPF AMERICAN TRAVELS. use are few and simple, potent naturally or through the heaviness of the dose. A mild repeated purgative the Indian knows nothing of, and with him the effect must continue at least a day or ijiaybe two days without stop. The most of their praised specifics are purgatives, perspiratives, or urine-stimulants, which they use not sparingly at the first approach of disease, and in this way often check the progress of the malady. But success does not always attend the treatment. Certainly, cases enough occur where the prescription is agreeable to the malady, and great benefit is suddenly experienced. Such instances are then noised abroad imtil the story of one and the same case be- comes so varied and magnified that it is regarded as a daily and hourly occurrence, proof of the medical skill of the Indians, and so the crav- ing after their mysteries is continually renewed and maintained. On the other hand, it is not remarked how many Indians fall unhappy sacrifices to their over-praised methods of cure. It is not observed that inflammatory fevers, small-pox, and other violent diseases ravage unspeakably among them, because their received methods can effect nothing in such cases, more than chance being necessary in the treat- ment. It is not observed how most of their chronic patients leave the world as a result of carelessness and miskilful handling. The Indian, when he falls ill, has recourse first to his roots and sacredly regarded herbs ; he purges and sweats inordinately ; fasts for days together ; leaps into cold water, and submits to conjurings. Should he conquer his disease by rousing another well and good, the medicines have done it. But should these first general means prove in vain, he knows not what to do further, uses promiscuously what strikes his fancy, and chance not being favorable to him, gives. himself up to despair and his destiny. And what should lead us to think that a people as rude as the Indians, so heedless and without foresight, could be more fortunate in the discovery of specifics and more successful in apply- ing them than nations which by their united efforts and assembled experiments have not yet learned how to work wonders? Or why are we to believe that the American soil is more beneficent than the rest of the earth in the bringing forth of specific means? The Indian lives truer to nature, if living wild and unconstrained may be so called. His way of life subjects him to a number of miseries ; he suffers alter- nately the extremes of hunger and fullness, cold and heat, activity and relaxation, all which must work in his body powerful and mischievous changes. Is he exposed to fewer diseases merely because he has less knowledge and skill in the treatment of them? Civilized nations live softer and more meticulously, and bring upon themselves a greater number of maladies. But also are they not able to remove or alleviate a greater number of maladies, and to prolong the lives of weaklings, who elsewhere perish? But however true these things are, and how- ever grounded the charge that the Indians jealously keep secret their specific and wonder-working remedies, the burden of accusation is in some measure lessened by their generous readiness to produce with- out reward their manifold roots, barks, and herbs for the behoof of those needing aid, even if they do not indicate whence they got them. They show at least no selfish and mercenary views, which are the 12 SCHOPF AMERICAN TRAVELS. commonest motives among' the no less numerous mystery-usurers of more civilized and enlightened nations. A speaking example of this has been just now afforded in Pensylvania and adjacent parts by a certain Martin, who boasted of possessing an all-powerful but secret cure for cancer. This aroused the credulity and won the confidence of his people so much the more because of the clever pretext that the discovery of the root (according to him the medicine came from a root) had been communicated to him in confidence by an old Indian at Pittsburg. Although shrewd and impartial physicians at Philadel- phia found good reasons to doubt the highly praised worth of the remedy in genuine cases of cancer, the incredible number of imaginary or pretended cases of the disease, news of which came in from all parts, was astonishing. Never before had so much been heard of this malady. But it was certain, that fear and prepossession caused the anxious patient to fancy every obstinate or rooted impostume must be cancerous, and it was to be expected of the purveyor of the famous remedy that he, for his advantage, should claim, everything to be cancer, and thus multiply his cures. However, it was by no means clearly made out that the medicine used by him was in reality taken from nothing but a root. But he sought to spread abroad this belief, and almost every year made a journey to Pittsburg, pretending to dig his mysterious root there from a particular hill on the Alonon- gahela. Since I had come from Philadelphia, the attempt was made to search out this root for me, and I was shown the region whence it was believed he got the root ; I found there in great quantity the Sangiiinaria canadensis (blood-root), and the Ranunculus sceleratus L. Both roots have corrosive properties, and from many other cir- cumstances too numerous to mention, it is highly probably that Martin made use of one or the other, if only to conceal other and more power- ful constituents mixed in, for it is supposed that he added arsenic to his medicine.* Both plants are very common in other parts of Amer- ica, and the blood-root is here and there used as a remedy for warts and in cleansing slight sores. It is to be wished that the physicians in America, who have already in other matters shown their patriotism in many noble efforts, may also have a patriotic eye to the completer knowlege and more general use of their native materia medica. It betrays a,n unpardonable indifference to their fatherland to see them making use almost wholly of foreign medicines, with which in large measure they might easily dispense, if they were willing to give their attention to home-products, informing themselves more exactly of the properties and uses of the stock of domestic medicines already known. They would then have the pleasure of showing their fellow-, citizens how unreasonable it is to envy the poor Indians their reputed science, and they would be working usefully for the community and beneficently for the poor if they made it their business to further the employment of the manifold wealth afforded by nature in its precious gifts to them. * After Martin's death, in 1784, Dr. Rush discovered and published ^n the second volume of the Transact. 0/ the Amer. Pkilos. Society, that his cancer-powder consisted of white arsenic and a plant ingredient. 13 SCHOPF AMERICAN TRAVELS. [I, 466.] We were introduced to still another domestic tea-plant, a variety of Solidago.* The leaves were gfathered and dried over a slow fire. It was said that around Fort Littleton many 100 pounds of this Bohea-tea, as they call it, had been made as long as the Chinese was scarcer. Our hostess praised its good taste, but this was not. conspicuous in what she brewed. [II, 19-20.] The most important thing for me at Lancaster was the very agreeable acquaintance which I had the pleasure of making with the pastor of the Lutheran congregation there (and now> Prin- cipal of the new college), Mr. Heinrich Muhlenberg. This excel- lent man, through his own diligence, has gained a very considerable knowledge of natural history and is unwearied in the study of the ani- mals, plants, and minerals of his region. I have reason to regret that I came to know him so late and only for a brief space ; his acquaintance would have been the more valuable to me, and his memory will be all the more cherished by me, since among native-born Americans he was the only amateur of natural science I got to know and could question on that subject. If among his countrymen there were many of his exem- plary diligence and zeal after knowledge, America would soon know better its own productions, and natural history would be greatly en- riched. [I, 205.] Mr. Ettwein and Mr. Hiibner are at present the minis- ters [Bethlehem]. The first was absent, but in Mr. Hiibner I found an agreeable and amiable man, and a lover of botany, for which his profession allows him no time. The health of the community is cared for by Mr. Otto, at once physician, surgeon, and apothecary. [I, 216.] For sundry observations on the medical properties of certain indigenous plants I must thank the experienced Mr. Otto. It is not generally known that the European juniper-tree grows easily from twigs stuck in the earth, after the manner of most cuttings from leaf-trees. In Mr. Otto's garden are several shrubs grown from the planted twig. [I, 281-282.] We collected in this region [Wyoming] several va- rieties of mature seeds ; but I must confess that considering the place and the season we found little that was new. Rattlesnake-root [Poly- gala Senega] grows here in quantity ; also Chenopodium anthelmin- *Soi.ir>AGO suaveolens : foliis lanceolato linearibus, integerrimis, acuiis, subquinqnenerviis, punctatis, glabris, tenerrime ciliatis Virga aurea Americana, larraconis facie I't sai ore, pHnicula speciosissima Pluk. aim. p. 389. tab. 116, f. 6 A species similar lo this grows abont New York, and has a pleasant odor of anise, noticeable also in the plant here, but weaker; no doubt because it was already late in the season and it had suflered from the cold. 14 SCHOPF AMERICAN TRAVELS. thicum; 'and Cleome dodecandra, which is praised as a vermifuge. A new species of the Parnassia, which I discovered about New York, grows here plentifully in swampy meadows. Among trees there was conspicuous a group of beautiful larches, called Tamarac; they use here a drink made from the bark, for swollen feet after fevers. Maryland. [I, 484-494.] Dr. Fisher at Fredericktown (also Apothecary and at the same time Sheriff) told the following remarkable story, and all those present confirmed it. A farmer, Jacob Sim, living eight miles from the town, was eleven years ago in the month of July bitten by a rattlesnake. Every year since, in the same month of July, he has fallen ill and feverish, the skin over his whole body becoming spotted blue and yellow. Carver observed something like this, and mentions, that it happens commonly that after the bite of a rattlesnake not only the wounded part grows swollen, but the swelling extends gradually over the whole body, and makes it of as variegated a color as the snake ; and further he speaks, as if certain, of an annual return of the symp- toms shown in the first instance.* Everywhere I informed myself of the rattlesnake and the copper-belly (also called moccasin-snake), the bite of which is quite as poisonous. The different accounts given by the country people are of one accord, that these noxious beasts are much less numerous than they once were. The general symptoms which follow the bite have been described at length by Carver and by others before him.f The shivering which immediately follows the wound may well be the effect of fright. Were the circumstances not so various, the efficacy of the poison, the ac- tivity of the wounded body, the conditions of the wound itself, and the season of the year, it could not be easily explained why so many are bitten without the least ill consequences, others recover after more or less significant symptoms, and others (but rarely) succumb on the spot. Dr. Garden saw a negro bitten in Carolina fall dead after fif- teen minutes. And without such a diversity of circumstances it would be impossible to make anything:' of the great number of remedies, of all descriptions and often apparently trifling, which by one and another are recommended as most excellent for the snake-bite. It will not be surperfluous to set down here the sundry remedies for the snake-bite which in different parts of the country were pointed out to me and praised. They are as follows: Collinsonia canadensis (Horse-weed), Cu- nila mariana (Penny-royal), Cynoglossum virginiciim, Hydro phyllum * Carver's Travels, English edit. p. 449, 450. t Descriptions of the snake, of the symptoms and remedies, are to be found in Kalm's account of the rattle-snake, Schived. akad. abh. XIV, XV; in Linnaeus, Amoenitates acad. Viol. II, Diss. XXII. Radix. Senega; and elsewhere. 15 SCHOPF AMERICAN TRAVELS. canadense, Convohnhis purpureus (Purple Bindweed),* Gentianae species (Sweet Bazil), Eryngium aquaticum, Sanicula canadensis (Blacksnake-root), Rihes nigrum, Hypoxis erecta.-\ Urularia per- foliata, Pyrola macula ta (Pipsissiwa), Phytolacca decandra (Cancer- root), Asarum canadense & virginicum (coltsfoot). Spiraea trifo- liata (Ipecac), Actaea racemosa (Blacksnake-root), Sanguinaria can- adensis (Blood-root), Thalictri species, Ranunculus repens & alii, Scrophidaria marilandica. Poly gala Senega (Virginia Snake-root), Hieracium venosum, Prenanthes alba (Dr. Witt's Snake-root), Ser- rafura s pic at a & squarrosa, Solidago canadensis, Brigeri species (Roberts' Plantain), Aristolachia Serpcntaria (Rattlesnake-root). Quercus nigra (Black oak), luglans alba & nigra (Black and white v^dilnni) , Acer N egundo (White ash)t, Veratrum luteuni (Rattlesnake- root), Osmunda virginiana, Adiantmn pedantum, Hypnum castrense. Of these divers plants the roots mostly are pounded or ground and ordered to be laid on the wound ; but of some, the leaves and bark also. Alerely the inner bark of the white oak is laid on the previously scarified salt-rubbed wound. Of the black and white walnut the inner bark is to be beaten and the fibre twisted into a cord and this bound about the wounded limb above the bite. The bark of the white ash is burnt, the ashes made into a paste with vinegar and applied to the wound, and at the same time a decoction of the bark and the buds is to be drank. But among all the above-listed plants the Aristolochia serpentaria and Polygala Senega have especially held the general es- teem ; and to these must be added the Roberts' Plantain, which has been praised by several, particularly the worthy Dr. Otto at Bethle- hem, from positive and often confirmed experience, having many times been of excellent use where signs of the poison taken up into the blood were already plainly manifest. This plant, little known as yet, grows well in hilly regions and is found in plenty about Bethle- hem ; it is raised th%re foresightedly in gardens, so as to be found in the night if occasion arises. Its leaves have a bitter, sharp, biting taste. They are applied, freshly crushed, to the wound and often renewed, and also a decoction made of them is copiously administered. Another tried remedy was made known many years ago bv Caesar, a Carolina negro, who was rewarded by the State of North Carolina with his freedom and a considerable sum of money. Having been many times tried, the especial efficacy of this remedy seemed to be admitted. It consists of the roots of the Hoarhound (Marrubium album f) and Plantain (Plantago major vel lanceolataf). These roots are mixed in equal parts, and three ounces of the mixture boiled in two quarts of water until reduced by half; the patient takes a third of this decoction three mornings together on an empty stomach. It reduces the symptoms and if continued effects a complete cure. If the fresh roots and simples are at hand they are pounded and ex- * With the juice of this plant, according to Catcsly, an Indian, having smeared his hands, took hold of a rattIe-!-:nal