34

parsnip, snakehead, Solomons seal, southernwood, scorfula, senna,
squareweed, tansy, vervain, wormwood, murrh, malefern, mountain
mint, mayweed, mugwort, marjoram, rue, sage, sweet flag, sweet basil,
stoneroot, thyme, wintergreen, nervin, Jerusalem oak, pennyroyal, pepper-
mint, prince's pine, spearmint, skunk cabbage, scullcap, sweet fern, spikenard
scurvy grass, saffron, scabish, and rose willow.
In 1844, they added: hellebore, witch hazel, green meadow root, water
papper, lady's slipper, deadly nightshade, wild indigo, white sanicle root,
papoose roote, cankerweed, lemon balm, pile wort, star flower, and gravel
plant.
It is startling to see so many of what we consider as "plain old weells"
listed as being the source of medicines.
Shaker Sarsparilla, in particular, came to be a well-known, commonly
used medicine. Sister Mary Whitcher's House-Keeper, published in 1882 by
the Shakers, carried many advertisements for "Corbett's Shaker Compound
Syrup of Sarsaparilla" which was supposed to cure eruptions of the skin, purify
the blood, rheumatism, kidney and urinary affectations (sic), boils, consti-
pation, piles, scrofula, dyspepsia, tightness of the chest, affection of the
heart, salt rheum, bad cough, swollen limbs and joints, erysipelas and purify
the blood, and be "good for nursing mothers and puny emaciated children. "
It contained "roots of sarsparilla, dandelion, yellow dock, mandrake, black
cohosh, garget, Indian hemp, and berries of juniper and cubeb, united with
iodide of potassium." Their testimonials claimed itwas superior to every
other remedy called sarsaparilla, !tbased on the growth, curing and selection
of its several roots and berries and the care with which they are compounded."