Description of a Plant by Meriwether Lewis, 5 March 1805
Description of a Plant by Meriwether Lewis
Fort Mandan March 5. 1805
This specimen of a plant common to the praries in this quarter was presented to me by Mr. Hugh heney, a gentleman of respectability and information who has resided many years among the natives of this country, from whom he obtained the knowledge of it’s virtues. Mr. Heney informed me that he had used the root of this plant frequently with the most happy effect in cases of the bite of the mad wolf or dog and also for the bite of the rattle snake he assured me that he had made a great number of experiments on various subjects of men horses and dogs particularly in the case of madness, where the symptoms were in some instances far advanced and had never witnessed it’s failing to produce the desired effect. the method of using it is by external application, to half an ounce of the root finely pulverized, add as much water as is necessary to reduce it to the consistency of a common poltice and apply it to the bitten part, renewing the dressing once in twelve hours. in cases of the bite of the mad dog where the wound has healed before the symptoms of madness appear, the bitten part must be lacerated or scarefyed1 before the application is made—the application had always better be made as early as possible after the injury has been sustained.—
I have sent herewith a few pounds of this root, in order that experiments may be made by some skilfull person under the direction of the pilosophical society of Philadelphia.—
I have the honor to be with much rispect Your Obt. Servt.
Meriwether Lewis
FC (Lb in PPAmP: Donation Book, Lewis and Clark Journals); date and first five words of text in John Vaughan’s hand, with remainder of text in Lewis’s hand; at foot of text: “Thomas Jefferson President U States.”
The above document was recorded in a donation book located with the Lewis and Clark journals at the American Philosophical Society. The description follows lists, in John Vaughan’s hand, of plant and mineral specimens gathered by Lewis and Clark between May and October 1804 and donated to the society in November 1805. Although the document is written in the form of a letter, it is not recorded in SJL nor has an acknowledgment of its receipt by TJ been found. It may have been among the plant and mineral “labels” mentioned in Lewis’s letter to TJ of 7 Apr. 1805. It is not known when Lewis copied the text into the donation book, although it may have been sometime in mid-1807 when Lewis was in Philadelphia and attended several meetings of the society (, 2:563; 3:450, 462-6, 472-8; Donald Jackson, ed., The Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, with Related Documents, 1783-1854, 2 vols., 2d ed. [Urbana, Ill., 1978], 1:220-1; , Proceedings, 22, pt. 3 [1885], 379-80, 396-8).
specimen of a plant: narrow leaf purple coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia). Hugh Heney, a trader employed by the North West Company, presented specimens and described its applications to Lewis and Clark at their winter encampment at Fort Mandan. It was listed among the contents of box number 4 of the articles sent by Lewis to TJ in April 1805 (, 3:257-8, 304, 330; Lewis to TJ, 7 Apr.).
1. MS: “scaefyed.”