[Advertisement.] DROPSY. The following medicine is highly worthy the attention of practitioners of meIt has proved very successful in the hands of the faculty in this dicine. city. GEO. W. CARPENTER'S COMPOUND FLUID EXTRACT OF WHAHOO, For the cure of Dropsical Affections, Anasarca, Hydrothorax and Ascites. Geo. W. Carpenter, in a late tour through the western part of the United States, became acquainted with a valuable vegetable remedial agent, which is of great interest to the medical profession, and of immense importance to the community. The medicine is prepared from the Bark of the Whahoo, an indigenous shrub, growing to the height of 8 or 10 feet, in moist and shady places, particularly in shady woods, in various parts of the States of Indiana and Illinois. As the subscriber visited the country in the winter season, he is not at present able to give a description of its botanical character and habitudes so as to identify clearly the species; it resembles somewhat the Euonymus Carolinensis. It was first employed by a regular physician who had been a long time a prisoner with the Indians. They gave it the name of Whahoo, and used it for the cure of general dropsies and some diseases of the lungs. G. W. Carpenter, aware of the great value of this medicine, and knowing the great importance of having it properly prepared, so as to extract all its medicinal properties, and to exhibit it in a concentrated state of uniform strength, has made a number of chemical and pharmaceutical experiments, to ascertain its proper menstruum for solution, and its chemical affinities, and, in accordance, has prepared a fluid extract, which contains all the medical properties of the Whahoo Bark in a concentrated state, &c., which he offers to the faculty as a valuable medicine for the cure of all dropsical affections. A very distinguished physician in Indiana writes me, that in 20 years' practice he has never known it fail in curing Anasarca, unless there was some visceral disease that destroyed the patient without the aid of dropsy, and that he has cured a great many cases of Hydrothorax and Ascites with it. He also states that he has seldom failed to remove the ague cake or enlargement of the spleen, by persisting in its use for 3 or 4 months and uses it as a general alterative more than he does calomel, and finds that it operates as such much better, and with more certainty and safety to the patient. The following letter was addressed to me by a very distinguished physician of Philadelphia, who has an extensive practice and great experience in his profession, and whose remarks are entitled to the highest degree of credit and importance. "To Geo. W. Carpenter, Esq. "SIR, A ready compliance with your request to be informed of the opinion which the trials of the Whahoo Bark' in the treatment of dropsical affections, has enabled me to form, is due to you, who introduced the article to my notice. I shall perhaps satisfactorily answer your desire for information, by the transmission of an extract from my notes, contributory to a paper, upon the history and medical adaptations of this native curative agent, in which I propose to lay before the profession its claims to medical attention. "It is hydragogue, cathartic and diuretic in its operation. Its primary effects are prompt and decided, and are distinguished from the effects of other articles of equal force and power, vegetable or chemical, belonging to this class of medicines, in being unassociated with the debility and prostration of system that too frequently attend their use.-Its influence upon the absorbent system is powerful, and transcends that exerted by any article in its integral character with which I am acquainted. "Its value is enhanced by the assurance its use has afforded me, that it is free from the uncertainty of dose arising from the variance of strength to which the elaterium of commerce is subjected, and which renders it so equivocal in its action, that it is only employed as a dernier resource by prudent practitioners. "I have seen as many as 30 copious watery dejections produced by the use of the Whahoo Bark,' daily for several days-and the measured quantity of two gallons of urinary discharge within the space of 12 hours, without inducing any perceptible debility or reduction of the force of the circulation. In two very distressing and violent cases of Dropsical disease, the one of Ascites accompanied with Hydrothorax-the other of general dropsy; its use was speedily followed by a removal of the hydropic effusion. In the former instance, a lady between 30 and 40 years of age, the manifestations of the disease had become so distressing and painful, in defiance of all the remedial treatment which had been pursued, that every expectation of relief from the immediate sufferings, except through the aid of an operation, had been abandoned. She had laboured under complicated symptoms of disease for many years, but is now restored to perfect health. "In either case the happy influence of the remedy was made evident upon the administration of 3 or 4 doses. It was used in the form of a liquid Extract, prepared by you, in doses of one to two teaspoonfuls every two hours. After using it a day or two, its effects became very manifest in its action upon the bowels. The dose of two teaspoonfuls every two hours has generally proved amply large enough to secure all its beneficial effects. "I am at present employing it in some cases of chronic disease, to the symptoms of which its virtues appear to be adapted, and with a promise of result, which previous experience of the curative quality of the article warrants. Its alterative power is very manifest, and will, I believe, when fully developed, entitle it to a distinguished position among the more useful and powerful remedial agents of the materia medica. "I cannot, sir, suffer this hasty communication to be closed, without an acknowledgment of the debt which curative medicine owes to you, for the indefatigable exertions you have ever made to improve the pharmacology of our country; and I would assure you, that should this medicine, upon more extensive use and general adaptation, redeem the promises of usefulness it now holds forth, that debt will be greatly increased by your agency in bringing it into notice. Most respectfully, I am yours, &c. No. 26 Montgomery Square, Race St., between 11th and 12th St., South side, Philadelphia. F. A. VANDYKE." The dose of the Compound fluid Extract of Whahoo, is one to two teaspoonfuls every two hours for adults, which may be gradually increased or diminished if circumstances require. The doses for children, in proportion to their ages, beginning with a small dose and gradually increasing it if necessary. It may be mixed with a little sweetened water, if desirable. This article is prepared only by the subscriber, and each bottle will have the written signature of Geo. W. Carpenter, on a label immediately on the bottle; and he would beg leave to caution the public to a careful observance of this, or they may get a spurious medicine; for as soon as he prepares anything new, he is counterfeited, or imitations attempted to be foisted off by some unprincipled members of the trade, who copy his directions and advertisement, and put up articles so as to resemble his as near as may be externally, but which are totally or essentially different in the composition or mode of preparation. GEO. W. CARPENTER, 301 Market St. Philadelphia. |