Then, too, H. C. Wood, Sr., followed up in America the scientific method of Trousseau, and he had an immense influence here.
Probably the last prominent proponent of the botanic remedies in so-called "Regular" practice was Robert Bartholow. A most able man, as he was, yet his was not the scientific method; and there has been no prominent writer since who adhered so closely to the empiric method in the study of materia medica.
Laurence Johnson lists 4 upwards of two hundred medicinal plants as indigenous to North America, principally in the United States. He does not pretend to list all of them, and few of those peculiar to Mexico and Central America. This is both an encouragement and a discouragement—an encouragement in that so great a diversity is ours and a discouragement in that we shall be tempted to use too much of it. Even to-day we are making foolish additions to materia medica.
This brief review of the history of botanic medication prepares the way for some considerations quite necessary for us to face if we hope to place plant remedies upon a scientific basis.
INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION
The study of botany is neglected in our medical colleges; so it is too often forgotten that plants are just as definitely related to each other as are inorganic chemical compounds. Credulity, as involves botanic remedies, is proportional to ignorance of botanical relationships. We may in our neighborhood know the Smith family and their
4 "A Manual of the Medical Botany of North America."
