St. John's wort doth charm all the witches away.
If gathered at midnight on the saint's holy day.
And devils and witches have no power to harm
Those that do gather the plant for a charm:
Rub the lintels and post with that red juicy flower
No thunder nor tempest will then have the power
To hurt or to hinder your houses: and bind
Round your neck a charm of a similar kind.

Several noted English herbalists, reflecting the general beliefs of their time, wrote very favorably of the virtues of St. John's wort. For instance, Gerard (ca. 1600) tells of the ointment he made of the plant as being a "most precious remedy for deepe wounds", and adds that "there is not a better natural balsam....to cure any such wound" (20).

Culpeper (ca. 1650), who was fond of ascribing astrological signs to medicinal herbs, says that Hypericum "is under the celestial sign Leo, and the dominion of the Sun." He goes on to say that "it is a singular wound herb, healing inward hurts or bruises," and that as an ointment "it opens obstructions, dissolves swelling and closes up the lips of wounds." Also, he claims it is good for those who "are bitten or stung by any venomous creature, and for those that cannot make water"--which use modern science confirms--and adds that the plant helps with "sciatica, the falling sickness and the palsy" (21).

Other early uses of Hypericum include as an oil (made by macerating the flowering tops of the plant in oil and then placing them in the sun for two or three weeks), which was "esteemed as one of the most popular and curative applications in Europe for excoriations, wounds, and bruises" (22). This preparation was even used by the surgeons to clean foul wounds, and was official in the first London Pharmacopeia as Oleum Hyperici (23).

Other popular folk-uses for St. John's wort have included: as a decoction for gravel and ulcerations of the ureter (24); for ulcerations of the kidneys, febrifuge, vermifuge, jaundice, gout, and rheumatism (25); as an infusion (1 ounce of herb to 1 pint water) for chronic catarrhs of the lungs, bowels, or urinary passages; and as a warm lotion on injuries to the spinal cord, for lacerated or injured nerves, bed sores, and lock-jaw (26).

The native American Indians used several indigenous species of Hypericum as an abortifacient, antidiarrheal, dermatological aid, febrifuge, hemostat, snake bite remedy, and general strengthener. After St. John's wort was introduced by European settlers, they used it as well for similar conditions (27,28).

As for the young United States, St. John's wort was not well-known and was rarely mentioned by prominent writers on the subject of medicinal plants. One of the first references to the plant is from Griffith (1847), who says it can be used as an oil or ointment for ulcers, tumors, and as a diuretic (29). Even the Eclectics, medical doctors from the late 1800's and early 1900's who favored herbs in their practice, did not use St. John's wort much.

Nonetheless, King, in his Dispensatory (1876), mentions its use in urinary affections, diarrhea, worms, jaundice, menorrhagia, hysteria, nervous imbalances with depression, and its usual external applications, including the use of the saturated tincture as a substitute for arnica, in bruises (30). In the later Felter-Lloyd revision of King's Dispensatory, tincture of St. John's wort, in a dose of 10-30 drops mixed with 4 ounces of water, taken in teaspoonful doses every 1-2 hours, is prescribed for spinal irritation, shocks, concussions, puncture wounds, and hysteria (31).