This is Starwest's nitrogen-flushed double wall silverfoil pack.

Used as an infusion, decoction, extract, tincture and salve.

As Grieve puts it, 'It is taken by Indian women for weeks before confinement, in order to render parturition safe and easy. A herbal physician should be consulted for a safe and effectual preparation.' Ellingwood gives the specifics of this regimen below.

Used also for the relief of painful periods.

As an astringent it has been used in the treatment of diarrhea and colitis.

The salve, recipe below, is recommended by Grieve and King for sore nipples.

Grieve's classic 'A Modern Herbal': 'Parturient, diuretic, tonic, astringent. Beneficial in all uterine complaints. It resembles in its action pipsissewa (Chimaphila), for which it is often substituted. It is taken by Indian women for weeks before confinement, in order to render parturition safe and easy. A herbal physician should be consulted for a safe and effectual preparation.'

'It is used in dropsy, suppression of urine, and diarrhoea.'

'The following preparation is a cure for sore nipples: 2 oz. of the herb (fresh, if possible), 1 pint of water. Make a strong decoction, strain, and add an equal quantity of good cream. Boil the whole down to the consistency of a soft salve, and when cool, anoint the nipple every time the child is removed from the breast.'

'Dosages: Of a strong decoction, 2 to 4 fluid ounces, two or three times a day. Fluid extract, ½ to 1 drachm.'

King’s 1898 Dispensatory: 'Partridgeberry is parturient, diuretic, and astringent. Used in dropsy, suppression of urine and diarrhoea, in decoction.'

'It seems to have an especial affinity for the uterus, exerting a powerful tonic and alterative influence upon this organ, and has hence been found highly beneficial in many uterine derangements, as in amenorrhoea, some forms of dysmenorrhoea, menorrhagia, chronic congestion of the uterus, enfeebled uterine nervous system, etc.'

'It is said that the squaws drink a decoction of this plant for several weeks previous to their confinement, for the purpose of rendering parturition safe and easy. Similar virtues have been ascribed to it by competent physicians of our time. The remedy is peculiarly American, not being noticed or used by foreign practitioners.'

'Dose of a strong decoction, from 2 to 4 fluid ounces, 2 or 3 times a day.'

'The berries are a popular remedy for diarrhoea and dysuria.'

American Materia Medica, 1919 (Ellingwood): 'The sphere of action of mitchella is upon the reproductive organs, particularly upon those of the female. It is not enlarged upon by our writers, but is known positively to a few practitioners. It is par excellence the partus preparator. The importance of removing every possible influence that increases in any way the severity of labor, does not impress itself upon physicians, unless an exceedingly severe labor is anticipated, when the excess pain is alleviated at the time by chloroform and morphine. Not only can all complicating influences be removed, but the nervous system can be so influenced that parturition to the mother can be shorn of dread and terrors, and can be looked forward to without anxiety or fear. We are so apt to think of the pain and horror of labor as a natural inheritance for each mother—something that she must expect, and should not try to shun, that we do not take the care we could in many cases, to shield her from it.'

'If a good preparation of mitchella be administered once or twice daily for the sixth and seventh months of pregnancy, three times daily for the eighth month, and in larger doses as confinement approaches, the influence upon the entire system will be most marked. I have observed this influence in so many cases that doubt is impossible. Erratic pains and unsatisfied longings are removed, the nervous system assumes a tranquil condition, reflex symptoms abate, the urinary function is performed normally, the bowels become regular, imperfect digestion is improved, and the appetite becomes natural. Labor approaches, devoid of the irritating, aggravating complications, the preparatory stage is simple, the dilatation is completed quickly, the expulsive contractions are strong, unirritating, and effectual, and are much less painful than without the remedy; involution is rapid and perfect, there are no subsequent complicating conditions to contend with, the patient's strength is not abated, and the function of lactation is in its best condition. This has been proven in very many cases. After making the above statements, evidences accumulated rapidly confirming their truth.'

'Auxiliary measures such as judicious dieting, a thorough oiling of the enlarged abdomen, and an occasional hot sitz bath for the last few weeks will materially assist the remedy. Less of it need be taken.'

'In uterine disorders at other times this agent is a most effectual remedy. It overcomes painful menstruation, regulates the function, relieves congestion in the pelvic organs and soothes general irritation of the nervous system from uterine or ovarian causes.'

'Dr. Hemminger of Pennsylvania uses mitchella to prevent abortion. He gives it in twenty drop doses three times a day. In two years he had six cases that had aborted from one to three times each, always with dead children. With the use of this medicine, each of the six gave birth to a healthy child. The medicine was given throughout the entire period of gestation.'

'Co-Operatives: It works harmoniously with cimicifuga, pulsatilla, aletris, helonias, senecio aureus, and viburnum. Combinations of these agents compose the usual proprietary compounds, advertised as 'female regulators.'