Berberis aquifolium (Mahonia aquifolium) - Oregon grape, Mountain grape
"Constituents: Berberine, oxyacanthine, berbamine, tannin, fat, resin.
Preparations: Extractum Berberidis Aquifolii Fluidum. Fluid extract of berberis aquifolium. Dose: from five to twenty minims.
Therapy: It has cured persistent acne for the writer, when no local treatment was used. It contributes to the removal of pimples and roughness and promotes a clear complexion, a soft, smooth and naturally moist skin in sensitive young ladies , when the cause is not a reflex one from ovarian or uterine irritation, or menstrual irregularity.
It seems of especial value in scaly skin diseases and in disorders of a non-inflammatory type, and yet it works nicely in some cases of the moist variety.
It has cured very many cases of salt rheum even when the symptoms were chronic in character and greatly exaggerated.
In moist eczema it has acted most satisfactorily, but has usually been given in conjunction with other treatment. Dr. Soper, in 1884, reported in the Therapeutic Gazette a most intractable case of moist eczema of an acute character covering the entire body. No other alterative was given. The case was cured in four weeks. In eczema capitis, eczema genitalis, with pruritus and in scaly eczema of all kinds, it has been given alone and has acted promptly and surely.
It has cured cases of scald head, so called, in a few weeks, restoring tone and vigor to the hair.
It has been often used in acne, and has worked nicely when local or reflex irritation was not the cause.
In psoriasis and in pityriasis it has won the praise of many doctors. For dandruff it has been given internally and has produced cures in a number of cases.
In many instances various forms of chronic dermatosis have yielded to its influence when other treatment has failed.
It should be prescribed in glandular indurations and chronic ulcerations, both of a scrofulous and syphilitic type, giving excellent results in these cases. It is lauded highly in syphilis, though it has seldom been given alone in this condition, but usually with other vegetable alteratives, the value of which, however, it has seemed to greatly enhance. Of this fact, I am positively convinced because of the rapid disappearance of the characteristic eruption, and the marvelously smooth condition of the skin which has followed with my patients when this agent is given in this disease.
When first introduced it was recommended in chronic malarial conditions, in intermittent fevers, and in the stomach, liver, intestinal and general glandular disorders of these fevers. It was claimed that its tonic influence was conspicuous in these conditions and that in certain cases it exercised marked antiperiodic properties. It certainly acts as a tonic and corrective to disorders of the liver, an influence that has been often remarked when given for skin diseases."
(Finley Ellingwood: The American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy, 1915)