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Materia Medica
Gentiana Quinqueflora.
Five-flowered Gentian. Gall of the Earth. N. O. Gentianaceae. Decoction of the herb. Tincture of fresh plant in flower (September, October).
Clinical.-Anorexia. Intermittent fever.
Characteristics.-This unproved Gentian has a great popular reputation in Ohio and other parts of the United States as an antiperiodic and tonic. Hale quotes Yelvington of Susquehanna (who says he learned its value from a tribe of Indians) as saying "he has succeeded in obstinate intermittents where Quinine and other anti-periodics had failed. He used the decoction of the herb. A fluid extract or the saturated tincture is a better form for administration in fever. It is a valuable tonic for old cases of dyspepsia and torpid liver." It is a pleasant bitter, and appears to be, like the other Gentians, a positive tonic. Dr. Yelvington also used it in cases of infantile fever and cholera infantum. "As a tonic in enfeebled patients and in chronic diseases," he says, "it is a remedy par excellence, appearing to exert an action over the organs of nutrition and assimilation, as well as being a stimulant to the excretory organs."
