menu, especially if anemic. Combine elderberry and blackberry juice, 1 ounce three times a day.
The inner green bark is cathartic; an infusion of it in wine, or the expressed juice, in doses from ½ to 1
fluidounce will purge moderately. A large dose produces vomiting. In small doses it produces an
efficacious deobstruent, promoting all the fluid secretion, and is much used in dropsy to expel the water
from the engorged organism. It is scarcely excelled by any other medication. Can be used for children’s
diseases, such as liver derangements, erysipelas, etc., decreasing the amount according to age.
EXTERNALLY: The elder may be called the herbalist’s cosmetic tree, as every part will aid in complexion
beauty, removing spots, allaying irritation, removing freckles, and preserving and softening the skin if
applied faithfully, internally and externally.
For various swellings, tumors, joints, etc., simmer any or all parts of the elder; apply as a poultice, or
bathe when skin is broken. Also excellent mixed with coconut oil for a discutient ointment, used for burns
and scalds. Any part is useful to keep in dried form for out-of-season use.
HOMEOPATHIC CLINICAL: Tincture of fresh leaf and flower for albuminuria, angina pectoris, asthma,
larynx (dry), lumbago.
RUSSIAN EXPERIENCE: The decorative and medicinal yellow, red, and black elder grows in many parts of
Russia and has been used as home medicine from the time of early Russian history. However, they
consider the North American white elder superior. In the Middle Ages it was considered a holy tree,
capable of restoring good health, keeping good health, and, it is reasonable to say, as an aid to longevity.
Uses: The roots, bark, twigs, leaves, and berries are used alone or in combinations for every type of
infection or inflammation.
Flowers: contain oil, rutin, vitamins, and minerals extensively for treatment of dropsy, rheumatism,
appendix inflammation, bladder and kidney infections, intestinal conditions, eyes, and external skin
trouble.
Berries: Diuretic, astringent, diaphoretic, much used as a gargle.
Leaves: The young spring leaves boiled in honey are excellent in chronic constipation; boiled in milk
for inflammation of burns of the skin, and piles. Clinical: Used for conditions of above, in extracts,
tinctures, and powders. Food: Home and hospital foods are made from the flowers and berries, including
vitamin- and mineral-rich jam and marmalade used in many dietetic preparations. Elderberry wine, with
its pleasant aroma and taste, is familiar in the wine industry. Externally: Leaves, flowers, bark, and twigs
are excellent as a hot poultice, mixed equally with chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile), for soreness,
inflammations, joint stiffness, etc.
In a seventeenth-century botanic book there is a story about a king and a small hunting party: Most of
the day had passed away when the party realized they were lost in the thick timber brush. Wandering in
various directions they happily found a lonely farmhouse of prosperous condition. As they approached
closer they saw an old gentleman, who had been crying, sitting on the porch. When the king asked why, he
explained he had slipped and fallen while carrying his grandfather from one room to another, and his
father had been angry for such misbehavior and had beaten him.
The king listened suspiciously and then entered the house. To his surprise he observed elders of
advanced generations peacefully talking and going about their daily routine. After talking, and observing
the family, he inquired how they kept in such good health to advanced years. They told the king that for as
long as they could remember they had eaten only simple food, salt, home-prepared bread, milk, and
cheese, with emphasis on elderberries.
As in name, legend, and story, grateful people of all continents and in all times admire and appreciate
the virtues of herbs. The same herbs in different countries, and used, of course, by different people, have
come to the same purposes, whether useful or dangerous. Many such simple things will not be accepted by
stories or experience alone. It seems that only when herbs are tested scientifically and given allopathic