Prinos.

The bark and berries of Prinos verticillatus.—U. S.

Preparation.—Tincture of Prinos.

Dose.—From five drops to half a drachm.

Therapeutic Action.—The Black Alder is tonic, alterative, astringent, antiseptic, and anthelmintic. It is highly valued by many for its medicinal virtues. The bark has been employed in intermittents as a substitute for cinchona, but its febrifuge powers are feeble. The berries have been used with some advantage in intermittents. For this purpose one pint of the berries may be macerated in half a pint of proof spirits and half a pint of water until the strength is extracted, when the juice is to be expressed and sweetened. The dose is half a wineglassful every two hours between the paroxysms.

It is sometimes exhibited as an astringent and tonic in chronic diarrhoea, chronic dysentery, and whenever there is relaxation of the intestinal exhalants. It is more frequently employed as an alterative and antiherpetic agent in cutaneous diseases, and in various cachectic habits of body.

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