An Account of the Success of the Bark of the Willow in the Cure of Agues. In a Letter to the Right Honourable George Earl of Macclesfield, President of R. S. from the Rev. Mr. Edmund

An Account of the Success of the Bark of the Willow in the Cure of Agues. In a Letter to theRight Honourable George Earl of Macclesfield, President of R. S. from the Rev. Mr. EdmundStone, of Chipping-Norton in OxfordshireAuthor(s): Edmund StoneSource: Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Vol. 53 (1763), pp. 195-200Published by: The Royal SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/105721 .

Accessed: 19/05/2014 23:32

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

The Royal Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to PhilosophicalTransactions (1683-1775).

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.65 on Mon, 19 May 2014 23:32:17 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=rsl

http://www.jstor.org/stable/105721?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


XXXII. Sn Sccozg of the Sgcc of the Bark of ghe illow in ghe Cure of iqges. Iis aLexer to the R6gbt Hrabk George Earl of MacclesSeld,0 Prt ef R. 5. fFom the Res. Mr. Edmund Stne, of Chipping-Norton in OxfUrdlbire.

My Lord Read June 2dt 1t Mmg ie many uI^Ful diScoveries}

17 3 i5, which this age hath made, th-ere are very few which, better deferve the attention of the puSic than- what I am going to lay beEnre your Lordthip.

There is a bark of^an EngliM tree, which I have found by experience to be a powerfisl aflcringent,xand very efficacxous in cunng agui& and intermitting diforders

Abollt fix rears ago, I accidentally taAed it, and was furprifed at its extraordinary bitterneSs; which immediately raifed me a fufpicion of its having the proputies of the PeruvIan bark. As this tree delights in a maiR or wet foils where agues chiefly abound, the general maximX that many natural maltdies car- -ry their cures along wxth themX or that their rsmedies lie not far from their cauSes} was fo very appofite to t3iis particular cafe, that I could not help applying it; and Fat this nlightbethe intention:of Pxovidence here, I muPt osvn had fome little weight with me.-

T ze =teiS lve plenty- of this bark fiarni&ed me} in lny fipeculative diSquifitions upon it, with an

D d 2 argument

[ t95]



[ t96 ] argument both for and againll thefe imaginary qualities of it; for, on one hand, as intermittents are very common, it was reafonable to fuppofe, that what vfas defigned for tlleir cure, Ihould be as common and as eafy to be procured. But then, on the other hand, it feemed probable, that,- if there was any conflderable virtue in this bark, it muil-have been diScovered from i!ts plenty. My curiofity prompted me to look into into the difpenfatories and books of botany, and ex- amine what they faid concerning it; but there it ex- illed only by name. I could not find, that tt hath, or ever had, any place in pharmacy, or any fudl qualities}

as I fufipedred aScribed to it by the botaniAs-. However, I determined to make fome experiments

with it; and, for this purpofe, I gathered that fummer near a pound weight of it, which I dryed in a baga upon theoutflde of a baker's oven«for mor¢ than three months, at which time it was to be reduced to a powder, by pounding and f1fting after the manner tllat other barks are pulverized

It was not long before I had an opportutlity of nuaking a- trial of it; but, being an entire Sranger to its nature, I gave it in very fmall quantities, I think it; was about twenty grains of the powder at a doSe, and repeated it every four hours between the fits; balt with great calltion and the AriEteA attention to its effed:s :^ the fits were confiderably abated, but: did not entirely ceaSe. Not perceiving the leaIt ill confeqllences, I grew bolder with it, and irs a few days enueafed the doSe to two Scruples, and the ague was foon remonred.

It was then given to faeral others with ehe fime fiuccefs; but I Bound it better arlfwered the intention, when a dram of it was takers every four hours in the intervals of the paroxifms,

I have



t 97 ] I have continued to uSe it as a remedy for agues

and intermitting diforders for five yars fucceIllvely and fiTccefsfully. It hath been given 1 believe to fifty ZrSons, and never failed in the cure, except in a few autumual and quartan agur, with which the patients had been long and feverely afflidled; theSe it reduced in a great degree, but did not wholly take them off^ the patient, at the ufual time for the return of his fity felt fome fmattering of his dillemper, which the in^> £eSant repetition of thefe powderscould not conquer w st Seemed as if their power could reach thus far and no farther, and I did fuppofe that it would not have long continued to reach fo far, and that the dif- temper would have foon returned with iss priRine violences butI didfnotflcaytorSettheiffiue:- Iadded one fifth part of the Pcruarian bark to it, and with this fmall auxiliary it totally routed its adverEaryO It was found n;eceSary lilrewiIi, in one or two obili- natet cafes, at other times of the year, to mix the fame quantity of that bark with it; but thefe were caSes where the patient went abroad imprudently, alld caught cold, as a poflc-chaife boy did, who, being almoIt recovered from an inveterate tertian ague, would follow his bufinefs, by which means he not only negledred his powder&, but, meeting with bad weather, renewed his diRemper.

One fifth part was the largR and indeed the mIy proportion of the quinquina made uSe of in ehis compofition, and this only upon extraordinary occa- rlons the patlent was never prepareda either by vo miting, bleeding, purging, or any medicines of at fimilar intention, for the recepeion of this bark, but be entere.d upon it altruptly and immediately, and it

w-as



r 188 ] svas always given in powders, with any comnwn ve- llicle} as water} tea, fmall beer and filch like. This was done purely to aScertain its effedrs; and that tI

tnight be aXured the changes wrought in the patient could not be attrtbuted to any other thing: though, laad there been a due preparation, the moR obIlinate - intermlttents would probably have yielded to this bark tithout any foreign ailthance: And, by all I can jtldge from five years experience of it upon a number of perfons, it appears to be a powerful abSorbent aIlringent, and febrifuge in intertnitting cafes, of the laxne nature and -kind with the Peruvian bark, and to have all its properties, though perhaps not always in in the fame degree. It feems likewiSe to have this ad- ditional quality, vis. to be a fafe medicine; for I nenrer could perceive the lea{t ill eied: from it, though-it had been always given wtithout any preparatlon of the patient. - The tr<, fbm which this bark is taken, is Atled

by Ray, in his Synopfils, Salix, alba, vulgariss the comnton white Wlllow. Hac omnium nobis cognita- rum maxima etE, ct ln fatis craffiam et proceram Ar- borem adolefcit.

It is called in theI*e parts, by the commen peoples the willow, and-ometimes the Dutch willow; butX if it be of a forelgn extrai1on, it hath been fo long naturalized to this climate, that it thrives -as well in it as if it was in its original foii. It is eafily diRin- guithed by the notable bittrneSs and the free running of its bark, which may be readily feparated from it all the fummer menths whilll the fap is up. I took it from the ffioots of three or four years growth, that fiprung from Pollard trees, the diameters of which

{hoots)



[ 189 J Ihoots, at their biggeI end, were from oxle to four or five inches: it is poisble, and indeed not improbable, ffiat this cortex, taken from larger or (slder Shoots, or from the trunk of the tree itSelf, may be Itronge1; but I have not had tlnle nor opportutlities to make the experlments, which ought to be tllade upon it The bark, I had, was gathered in the northern parts of OxfordfEire, which are chiefly of dry and gravelly nature, affording few moift or moory places for this tree to grow in; and therefore, I fiuEped that its bark is not fo good here as in fome other parts of the king dom. Few ntegetables are equal in every place; all have thelr peculi-ar foils, where they arrive to a greater perfeEcion than in any other place: tlle beIt and firongeR Mullard-Seed is gathered in the county of Durham; the fineR Saffron-Flowers are produced in feme particular fpots of EXex and CambridgeShire; the beIt Cyder-apples grow in Herefordfhire, De- vonIhire and the adjacent counties; the roots of Valerian are eReemed moR medicinal, which are dug up in Oxfordthire and GloceIterfhire: And there_ fore why may not the Cortex Salignus or Coltex aAnglicanus, have its favourite foil, where it tnsy flO- rifh moN, and attain to its higheR perfedion ? It is very prob-able that it hath; and perhaps it may be in the fens of Lincolnffiire, CambridgeShire, EISex, Kent, or fome fuch like I^1tuations; and, thougl1 the bark, which grew in the county of Oxford, may feem in fome particular cafes to be a little inferior to the qt1inqelina, yet, in other places, it may equal, if not exceed it.

The powders made from this bark are at firfl: of a light brown3 tinged with a duiky yellow, and tlle longer they are kept, the more tlley incline to a

clnnanlon



[ oo J cinnatnon or lateritious colour, which I believe ls the cafe with the Petuvian bark and powders.

I have no other motives for publifhing this valua- ble fpecific, than that it may harre a fair and full trial in all its variety of circumllances and fituations, and that the world may reap the benefits accruing from it. For thefe purpofes I have given this long and minute account-of it, and which Iwould not have troubled your Lordfhip with, was I not fully perfiuaded of the wonderfiJI efficacy of this Cortex Salignus in agues and intermitting cafes, and did I not thinle, that this perfuafilon was fufficiently fupported by the nzanifold experience, which I have had of it.

l am, my Lord,

with the profoundePc fubmifl41on and refpedrX

Ch,:", your LordShip's moR obedient April %5 t763 hllmble Servant

Edward Stone.

XXllI. J^z



Documents

An Account of the Success of the Bark of the Willow in the Cure of Agues. In a Letter to the Right Honourable George Earl of Macclesfield, President of R. S. from the Rev. Mr. Edmund