Polytrichum.

The plant of Polytrichum juniperinum.

Dose.—Of an infusion of one ounce to a pint of boiling water, macerated for two hours, one-half to one ounce every one or two hours, or oftener in cases of dropsy.

Therapeutic Action.—This is one of the most valuable of our indigenous diuretics, acting mildly, and yet largely increasing the urinary secretion. It has been used with much success in dropsical diseases, and is capable of speedily and certainly reducing dropsical effusions. It is said to have caused the excretion of several gallons of fluid in twenty-four hours. It has also proved a good agent in acute stages of gonorrhoea, almost invariably relieving the troublesome ardor-urinae attending that disease. It has also proved useful in cystitis and vesical irritation. As a diuretic we would recommend it as among the best and most reliable of this class.

The American Eclectic Materia Medica and Therapeutics, 1898, was written by John M. Scudder, M.D.