American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy

It is also beneficial as a local and internal remedy in erysipelas and
erysipelatous diseases.
ASCLEPIAS Asclepias tuberosa
Synonym—Pleurisy Root.
CONSTITUENTS—
Glucoside, tannic and gallic acids, resin, fixed oil, volatile oil, fat,
gum, starch.
PREPARATIONS—
Extractum Asclepiadis Fluidum, Fluid Extract of Asclepias. Dose,
from one to five grains.
Specific Asclepias. Dose, from one to sixty minims.
Action—Diaphoretic, expectorant, cathartic, tonic.
Physiological Action—In regard to the influence of asclepias, Grover Coe,
M. D., writing in 1858, gives the following wide range of action. He says:
“No other remedy with which we are acquainted is so universally
admissible in the treatment of disease, either alone or in combination. In
fact we think of no pathological condition that would be aggravated by its
employment. It expels wind, relieves pain, relaxes spasm, induces and
promotes perspiration, equalizes the circulation, harmonizes the action of
the nervous system, and accomplishes its work without excitement;
neither increasing the force or frequency of the pulse, nor raising the
temperature of the body. It is of special service in the treatment of
affections involving the serous membranes, as pleuritis, peritonitis, etc.”
In this it resembles bryonia closely.
The most active apparent influence of this agent is upon the sudoriparous
glands. It is distinctively an eliminative agent of general utility. It
is mild in its influence, but if given with confidence it will produce good
results.
Specific Symptomatology—Its first direct effect is upon the serous
membranes within the thorax. It is specific in pleuritic pains, both of the
acute and subacute variety, in doses of fifteen drops every two or three
hours. For these I have long prescribed this agent with positiveness, and
have yet to be disappointed. If effusion be present, its rapid removal is
Ellingwood’s American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy - Page 58