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Abstract

This brief paper is intended to draw attention to the remarkable results obtained, in certain sections of the South, during the war between the States, in the treatment of malarial fevers, by means of a very common and homely plant, mullein; (verbascum thapsus of Linnaeus). Perhaps it is wrong to speak of it as a "homely" plant, because it seems that all of its family seen in this country, (some three varieties), have been imported from Europe. "Familiar," would give a better description. Although not an adult, during the earlier years of the revolution, I was old enough to note the signal effects of this herb as used in the treatment of malarial troubles. Quinine amongst us in those days was a luxury which few could command. My temporary home was upon the Upper James River, in Virginia, in a neighborhood in which chill and fever was anything but a